Timing is everything
by djinni14
Summary: Castle knew this day was coming, he just knew it! And all those people who had laughed at him were going to be really sorry now. Those Zombie apocalypse classes were going to pay off. He just didn't know it was going to be today! Or that it would screw up months of planning and cost millions. He had plans, big plans. Start a new life. SHIT!
1. Chapter 1

Timing is Everything

**CH1**

Background: Kate never went to Castle's book launch party for the Tisdale murder. In fact no one did. They have each spent the next four years never knowing the other person. Kate only knows the books she reads and what she reads on page 6. Rick on the other hand has never even heard her name before.

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Kate was slowly waking up and started blinking her eyes open and started stretching her sleepy muscles and moved an arm to the other side of the bed and found it warm and empty. Telling her that it hadn't been that way for long.

Kate wasn't in the least bit worried about where he was. There was a time long ago when not finding the guy having stayed the night with her both a good thing and a lonely thing. It's just that she buried the lonely part deep inside herself and was usually happy that the bed was empty. However those times were gone now.

Now knowing that he was still around here somewhere brought a smile to her face. Something else that she hadn't done in a long, long time. SMILE! Kate didn't have much to smile about before.

It was only moments and she could hear people talking, and that got her smiling even wider, since it was obvious from the tone of the happy voices just who was doing the talking. It also brought to her mind what happened last night, that got her smiling even wider.

(Why did I wait so long? What we have is so special. Why couldn't I just have opened up earlier? I could have saved myself so much heartache. However I'm there now and I'm not giving it up. Not for any reason. Any reason at all.)

Kate started playing back what happened in her mind, while she swung her legs over the side of the bed throwing the thin bed sheet off of her. It was warm so they didn't need the comforter that was at the foot of the bed.

Hell it was always warm here, and it was almost always sunny too, unless one of the rain storms came through that they really needed to fill the fresh water cistern that was under the house.

Kate made her way to the bathroom buck naked and looked at herself in the mirror. The trip had shown that she was sore in places that she hadn't been sore in for a long time. This knowledge also brought a smile to her face. Because it was a good kind of sore, a kind of sore that with some more practice wouldn't ever be sore again. And there was going to be lots of practice in her future, lots and lots of practice.

Kate didn't even recognize the woman in the mirror. Her long hair was a mess, but there was a reason for that. However she also had a really deep tan. Actually everyone had a deep tan now. Her tan however was because of a different reason. Her breasts weren't as tanned as the rest of her, however they were tanned. Now under her bikini bottom was another question. That area was clearly white.

That reason had Kate smiling even wider and at this rate if she kept it up her face was going to break.

(If only Lanie could see me now!)

Lanie would likely break her ear drums with her scream and then break countless ribs as she hugged Kate.

Kate had stepped out of the shower and dried her hair and applied a minimal amount of make-up. Very minimal since neither of them had very much left, with not much chance of getting any more anytime soon.

Kate slipped into one of her bikinis and put on a wrap around her waist and slipped her feet into her flip flops. Flip flops and her bikini was one more thing that had changed in her life. It was the primary reason she had such a deep tan. Kate didn't even miss her high heel boots anymore, even if they were still around here somewhere.

Kate left her service weapon lying on the night stand. In different circumstances it would be locked up somewhere, but these were not normal circumstances. In fact they had weapons stored all over the place and all of them knew how to shoot, Kate had even helped all of them learn how to shoot better. Mildly surprised that the two of them already knew how to shoot, even Alexis. Alexis just wasn't as good at it as her father or herself.

Kate headed for the door to join the others, not caring anymore what it looked like with her coming out of his bedroom into the family room with the open kitchen just off to one side, with another kitchen out off the back patio. Kate's heart was flying and she was fairly certain her feet weren't touching the ground.

Kate knew today she was going to use the phone and get an update on everyone she had left behind and prayed that she would see all of them again, Kate just didn't know when that day would be. That phone was her one lifeline to her old life and all the friends she had been forced to leave behind.

It also took her back in time as she opened the bedroom door to the questions and looks that were going to come her way, not that she cared anymore, she was happy, so very damn happy and everyone in this room was responsible for that.

**Nine months earlier:**

"Beckett, my office." Roy calls out from his doorway.

Kate gets up from her desk and looks at the guys for a clue to what Roy wanted her for and quickly went over the open cases in her mind. They were still working all of them, they even had two white boards up.

Their closure rate hadn't dropped in a long time, certainly not since Kate took over. In fact the 12th had the highest closure rate in the city, it was something Kate was proud of. Roy's confidence in her wasn't something she took lightly.

"Sir?" Kate steps into his office.

"Close the door Beckett." Roy tells her from his seat behind his desk.

"Sit down Beckett." Kate wasn't sure she liked this. His tone sounded tired and sitting down in a closed office didn't bode well for what he had to say.

"I'm retiring Beckett, effective in two months. I want you to think about taking the captain's test and applying for my position. You've proven yourself over the years and I've taught you everything I know. You're the best detective this city has ever seen." Roy tells her, still sounding tired to her ears.

"You've been in overall command of the homicide floor as a lieutenant for over a year now. You'll have to learn about robbery, gangs and everything else that goes with running a precinct and I'll be here for the next two months helping you." Roy tells her. He really did want her to take this job. It was his one last thing he could do for her to help keep her safe.

"ME SIR!?" Kate was shocked. Sure she was in charge of every homicide detective in the 12th along with everyone on this floor, but an entire precinct?

"I'm aware that your first love is to be out in the field working as a homicide detective, taking this job will likely mean less of that. Not that you have to stop completely, how you run your precinct is up to you. If you want to keep your hand in homicides that would be up to you." Roy knew it wouldn't be easy on her to accomplish that, but he also knew she was a hard worker and not afraid of working the time.

"I, … I don't know what to say sir." Kate was being honest. When she came in here this was not what she was thinking.

"1PP is already aware of my intention to retire. I've heard rumors that a Victoria Gates is my likely replacement if you decide not to take the test." Roy tried to apply a little pressure.

"Cast Iron Gates from Internal Affairs? …. She hates cops sir. She would turn this precinct into hell. There would be massive transfer requests. We'd go from the best precinct to the worst. This place would be filled with people that didn't want to even come into work, let alone do their jobs to the best of their abilities." Kate hated this idea. She loved working here and if Gates took over it would be a boot camp from hell with a boss that hated your guts simply because you were a cop.

"Think about it Beckett, just don't think about it too long. … That's all Beckett, now get out of my office and get back to work." Roy dismisses her. He had given Beckett his best shot. He knew that if she stayed the lead detective Kate would eventually re-open her mother's case, and that it would likely get her killed.

The guys had their eyes glued on Kate as she made her way back to her desk and back to the open cases she had on her desk. What Kate really needed was some coffee and the sludge this place served couldn't be called coffee.

Maybe if she made it to captain she could get a real coffee maker into the break room. Something that didn't eat you from the inside out slowly. "I'm going for coffee." Kate informs Ryan and Espo, and grabs her weapon, shield, cuffs and her jacket since it was still cool outside.

"What do you think Montgomery wanted her for?" Espo asks turning back to look at his partner that he had, had for years now, only to see Ryan shake his head.

"Maybe its budget cuts." Espo offers up.

"Like they would get rid of Beckett, she's the best in the city and you know it." Ryan counters shooting his idea down.

"Maybe its new cruisers." Espo brightens.

"We just got all new Chargers a couple of years ago, and Beckett has one of the newer computers." Ryan points out before his partner can go there.

"Well it's something bro. Can't be more cases, we've already got more than we can handle." Espo and Ryan were already working overtime.

"They can if there are more." Ryan counters.

Kate was just about to the neighborhood coffee shop when she saw HIM come out of the coffee shop. Kate could see that he looked right at her for a moment and then turn and walk away from her. Kate knew it was him, she was sure she would recognize him from a mile away. The question was, did he recognize her?

Kate gave herself half a thought about chasing him down so she could talk to him. It would be more than a quick hi and telling him her name was Kate, like when she went to one of his book signings.

However she didn't know what to say that didn't come out sounding like some high school girl crush and the longer she delayed the farther and farther away he got, until he turned the corner at the intersection and was out of her sight.

Her favorite author, the man who's books had almost literally saved her life when it seemed like everything was just black. She had read every book he had written countless times, all except for the last one. Kate hadn't thrown it in the trash, but she had come close.

It really was trash and the critics hadn't been kind to him about it either. Kate hadn't seen him on page 6 for a while either, even his playboy bimbo on his arm at all the events he attended wasn't in the paper anymore either.

Kate may have liked his books but his image had thrown her off. Maybe it was a good thing she had just missed him as she stepped into the coffee shop to get her coffee.

Still he was dressed nicely enough and he was still handsome looking, maybe he had gotten married yet again and didn't have time to write anymore. He obviously couldn't stay married.

Still Kate didn't understand why he had killed of Derek Storm when he was at his peak. His books were selling and the Storm series was always in the top ten, then he had killed him off and disappeared. Kate was still reading his Storm series, she even had a copy of one at her desk that she would read during lunch, when she remembered to have lunch.

Kate had her coffee and was back in the precinct with the guys stealing glances at her. Kate knew it was likely because of what Roy hand called her into his office to talk to her about. It's just that if he wanted everyone to know that he was retiring he would have told them. So it was up to Kate to keep her mouth shut.

"Where are we on the girlfriend?" Kate asks, hoping to get their minds off of her conversation with Roy.

Rick had left a meeting that was finalizing the timing of the last thing he needed. What he needed was a coffee to keep him awake so he stopped at a little shop he had never before been in.

Rick didn't see anyone in the coffee shop that would cause him to play his little game to himself. Everyone looked plain and ordinary at least until he stepped out the door and saw a youngish woman walking his way.

High heeled boots, she was wearing a long coat that hid everything under it. Rick noticed that she was one of the more beautiful women he had seen for a while now. She might be worthy of staying and try and figure out her story. Problem was he had another appointment and he needed to stop at the bank first.

Rick was mildly annoyed that he didn't have the time, still he let the coffee shop door close and starting walking away from her, wondering just who she was.

Rick stepped into his bank that he had been using for years now, however today it was time to say goodbye to this bank. Rick was asked to wait till someone could help him.

"May I help you?" A lady walked up and asked him.

"Yes, I need to close my account and make a wire transfer." Rick explains.

"I see, if you'll follow me please." And takes Rick into her office.

"I'll need your account number and your ID." She tells him, and Rick hands over both of them.

She sees the remaining balance and is now suddenly concerned as to why he is closing his account. While losing this amount of money wasn't going to hurt the bank, it was still going to be noticed.

"May I ask why you want to close your account Mr. Castle?" She asks wondering if there was something she could do to change his mind.

"I'm relocating and I need a more local bank to work with." Rick tries explaining since he had no interest in explaining what he was doing.

"I see." Actually she didn't since they had branches in several international locations. Granted they were in several major cities in the States, but she didn't see a man like this moving to some small town in Nebraska or Kansas. He had big city written all over him.

"I need to know the name and address of the bank you want to send the money to." She explains.

Rick was ready for that too and hands over the paper.

RBC Royal Bank. "You know we have branches in several major cities in Canada." She tries again to keep the money in this bank.

"Yes I'm aware, however I'm not relocating to Canada, however they have a branch where I am relocating to." Rick shoots her down yet again, being aware at what she was trying to do.

"If you'll sign here this will complete your wire transfer, minus the fee required to make the transfer. … And if you'll sign here that will close your account.

I trust that you have no outstanding payments or automatic payments associated with this account." She reminds him to help him avoid any fees that her bank would charge or whoever was trying to receive payment.

"I have no more payments associated with this account." Rick assures her, which was correct, since he already had a fair amount of money in the account that he was transferring this money into.

"Here are your copies of all the transactions today. … I wish you luck in wherever you are going Mr. Castle." She tells him and offers her hand.

"Thanks, I'll take all the luck I can get." Rick smiles back at her, knowing that what he was doing had its risks.

Rick only had one more appointment to make and that was at his lawyer's office. It would likely be his last trip to here too.

Rick was stepping out of his taxi after paying the driver and looked up at the building his lawyer was in when his phone rang. Rick took a look at who was calling and frowned when he saw the caller ID.

Rick sighed and decided to get it over with one last time, hopefully. "What do you want Gina?"

"We still need to talk Richard. Black Pawn's contract for your next book is still in your hands. Just because your last book bombed doesn't mean you can't write. They are still willing to give you an advance on your next book." Gina tells him.

Rick only for a moment thought about their latest contract offer. Despite Gina's assurance that Black Pawn still had an interest in his next book, the contract terms and the amount of guaranteed money spoke volumes that they in fact had little to no faith.

Even Rick had little faith that his next book would be something even his daughter would read. He simply didn't have any inspiration to write anything, so he hadn't for months now and didn't intend to. He had other plans. It may be a sink or swim kind of choice, but at least he was making a choice instead of sitting around moping that his will to write hadn't returned after killing off Storm.

"Not interested Gina, I have other plans." Rick wasn't willing to discuss them with her. She may have been his wife once, however they were divorced for a reason, even if Gina couldn't accept or take responsibility for her own actions that lead them to being divorced.

"Richard, don't do something foolish. You should never have killed of Derek, he was your money ticket." Gina was still pissed that she had let Rich do that.

"I have my reasons Gina and they don't include Black Pawn anymore." Rick tells her. The 'Or you either' was left unsaid, however Gina heard it loud and clear, just like Rick intended she was sure.

"Don't call me again Gina, we have nothing to discuss." And Rick hangs up on her. His plans were in motion and he just needed another couple of months and he would leave New York and likely never see it again.

Rick steps into the building and takes the elevator up to his lawyer's office. "Hi Vicki, I think I'm about 10 minutes early."

"You can go right in Mr. Castle, he's expecting you." Vicki tells him.

"Henry, how are you?" Rick offers his hand.

"Doing fine Rick, I have all your paperwork here waiting for you." Henry offers a chair to Rick.

"You're sure this is what you want to do?" Henry knew what Rick had asked of him, and thought this just wasn't like the Rick he knew, or thought he knew.

"Positive. … Is it the most brilliant idea I've ever had? … Only time will tell." Rick was nervous about this, however it was a little late to back out now. He had spent a lot of money up to this point.

"The trust for Alexis remains unchanged. She has a set amount of money that she can access until she enters college, at which time the amount of money she has access to increases. The account itself continues to make money, how much depends on the will of the stock market.

The trust you have set up for Martha is also still stable and remains unchanged. I've worked with your real estate agent and all of your holdings have been sold and I have the papers ready to transfer ownership and make the wire transfer to finalize the payment of the purchases you have made.

As soon as that is complete and I receive the title to the properties I will have the originals messengered over to you at the loft. You have 60 days to vacate the loft since you have sold that property also." Henry runs down the list of everything Rick needed him for.

Rick had liquidated a lot of properties, most of which were here in New York City, while two were elsewhere. One of which was his house in the Hamptons.

Rick really did love that house. He had done a lot of his writing at that house. The fresh air, smell and sound of the ocean. Well he was going to get to know the ocean really well soon. He had no idea who one Roy Montgomery was, or his wife Evelyn. He did know they had two daughters. He hoped they enjoyed the house. They had bought it using cash which was an attraction to selling it to him instead of the other 3 offers. That and he knew a family would be living in it. He felt good about that.

Rick signed where Henry had all the little yellow stickers and yellow highlighted spaces.

"I hope you know what you are doing Rick." Henry gathered up all the papers and gave Rick his copies.

"So do I Henry, so do I." Rick took his hand, knowing this would likely be the last time he would see him. "Take good care of your family Henry."

"Bye Vicki, take good care of yourself." Rick mentions in passing on his way out the door.

It caught Vicki by surprise, Mr. Castle had never sounded like this in the past. "Thanks Mr. Castle." Vicki got out before the door closed.

Rick stepped outside and breathed in deeply, actually looking forward to the fresh air where he was going, and flagged down a taxi that would take him home. His temporary home that is, since he no longer owned it.

Rick unlocks the front door and closes it and re-locks it behind him. Rick finds Alexis in the kitchen getting something to drink out of the refrigerator. "How did everything go dad?" Alexis was curious.

"Everything went off without a hitch. Everything is sold and everything has been purchased. We are now proud owners of the next phase in our lives.

Not to worry, I made sure that your trust fund for college is still intact, as is my mother's" Rick beat her to the punch.

"That's not what I meant dad. … I'm just glad that you are happy. You sure you won't miss writing?" Alexis knew that what her dad had planned was going to keep him busy, and even if he did want to write, he might not find the time to.

"Everything will be fine. … You'll see." As Rick kisses the side of her head. "Interested in lunch?" Rick changes topics.

"That would be nice. I'm going over to see Paige later today. You're sure she can come out for a visit?" Alexis didn't want to lose complete touch with her friends.

"Of course she and your friends are welcome, you can even fly them out if we don't have anyone to fly out as part of their reservations." Rick assures her and starts pulling things out of the refrigerator.

They needed to start packing soon. Everything except the furniture since he sold the loft furnished.


	2. Chapter 2

**CH2**

**It is now one month later:**

Kate had spent the last month spending her entire day with Roy in his office while he went over everything it took to be captain of an entire precinct.

Word about Roy retiring had gotten out and Kate had the entire 4th floor and most of the other floors behind her. When Roy sent her down to robbery they bent over backwards to help her. Everyone had heard the word on who 1PP had as the front runner of who was going to replace Roy and half the station had already filled out requests for a transfer. They just needed to be sent in for processing. This place was going to be a morgue if Cast Iron Gates was made captain.

"I never knew there was this much paperwork." Paperwork and Kate just didn't get along, and here she was trying to get a job that had still more of the damned stuff.

In-between Roy teaching her how to run a precinct he was helping her with her upcoming captain's exam.

Roy was already smiling listening to Kate as he helped her study. It confirmed his suspicion of Kate's capabilities, she was brilliant and driven. Roy knew that she would eventually solve her mother's case if she wasn't so damn close to it and focused like a laser. If she would just step back and apply her skills and let the other detective's help her like all her other cases, she might have solved it by now.

Or already be dead by now, since Roy knew he would kill her in a heartbeat.

Kate was back at her own desk for a change when her desk phone rang. "Beckett. …. I'll be right down." Kate hangs up and turns to the guys. "Lanie has something on Patterson, I'll be back." Kate informs them and heads for the elevator.

"What have you got Lanie?" Kate asks as she walks in.

"Hi girl. … Patterson, let me show you something." Lanie takes Kate over to the body lying on her table. Lanie lifts up the cloth that was covering him and picks up a light and shines it on his chest area.

"See all this, and I don't mean the bruising that is obvious, look past that." Lanie offers a hint.

Kate saw it. "How old?" Kate asks.

"Over here." Lanie walks over to some x-rays hanging on some light panels. "He has one broken rib, which is new. It's these ribs here however. … These two here show previous bruising and these two on the other side show even older bruising.

I also found this on the x-ray of his left arm. … It shows that this arm was broken, likely about a year ago. It was set professionally, likely in a hospital. … Plus I have this." Lanie walks over to another table and lifts up a jar and shows it to Kate. "This is his left kidney, it shows signs of bruising and was likely shutting down on him before he died."

"He was being beaten to death." Kate looks over at the kid lying on Lanie's table.

"For years most likely, and I was right, he did die from blunt force trauma to his head. There is even a skull fracture. … This kid has been abused likely from the day he was born." Lanie really hoped Kate could solve this one. That kid hadn't done anything to deserve this treatment.

"Thanks Lanie." Kate now had new places to gather information from to help her solve who killed him.

"How goes all the testing girlfriend?" Lanie wanted to hear it from Kate.

"Captain Montgomery is going over everything he knows; he's even helping me with my captain's exam." Kate offers some information.

"Is it really what you want to do Kate?" Lanie needed to hear it, since she knew Kate liked being a homicide detective.

"If I don't take the job, we'll end up with Cast Iron Bottom. I've heard rumors that half the precinct has already filled out transfer requests. If I don't make captain and apply for the job, she'll ruin this precinct Lanie." Kate offers up her reasoning for trying.

"Is that your only reason?" Lanie wanted to know if Kate had actually thought this through?

"Do I need another?" Kate counters.

"So you're willing to make yourself miserable being captain of a precinct, just to prevent Gates from being made captain?" Lanie was thinking she now needed to talk Kate out of this.

"I'll be fine Lanie. Captain Montgomery has told me that I can run the precinct my way and if I want to, be more involved in homicide cases than he is, I can. … I'll be fine." Kate was trying to convince herself as much as Lanie.

"Just make sure you're doing it because you want it, not because everyone else in this building wants you to. Making yourself suffer for the sake of others is admirable, but what about you?" Lanie knew Kate was driven. She was also worried that her friend wasn't having any fun.

"And how will you find time to go out on dates if you take on even more work." Lanie was also worried about her social life.

"Life isn't all sex Lanie." Kate knew where Lanie was going.

"Life isn't all work 24 hours a day either Kate. You deserve to be just as happy as the next person." Lanie points out.

"I am happy Lanie, …. as happy as I'm ever going to get anyway. … Let me know if you find anything else." Kate tells her and goes back upstairs to fill in Ryan and Espo on what Lanie had found and soon had them searching hospitals for their victims name and that of his mother and step-father or any boyfriend the mother had ever had.

Rick and Alexis were just getting back home after being gone for three days from making their next to last trip to transfer supplies. "There's not much left to move dad." Alexis points out.

"You didn't have to do all this work pumpkin, I could have found someone to take your place. You didn't have to give up your summer to finish high school early or take your first classes for college on-line." Rick points out again, knowing they had already had this conversation.

"I know dad, but I'm doing it because I want to, not because I have to." Alexis kept her argument with her father, even though she was partly doing it because Alexis was sure her dad couldn't do it without her. "And I want to see your plan work dad. You've put a lot of work into this dad, I want it to work out just as much as you do."

Stepping into the loft they find it filled with furniture and not many boxes like there used to be. There was also no Martha. "Grams is probably at her studio." Alexis had also noted her absence. Alexis knew she needed to come up with a new plan to talk Martha into coming with them when they left. Otherwise Martha was going to be here all alone, and Alexis just didn't like that thought.

Come morning almost a week later, Alexis came downstairs still dressed in her PJ's and didn't find her father in the kitchen. Instead he was sitting in the living room watching TV, again.

"What are you watching dad?" Alexis had seen him doing this a lot yesterday.

"Something weird is going on." Rick responds also dressed in his sleep clothes.

So Alexis sat down next to her dad and watched TV with him and was soon finding herself immersed in what the broadcaster was talking about. "Twelve countries that have a sudden outbreak of rabies? Who ever heard of such a thing? One local area near some small town in the mountains maybe, but 12 whole countries?" Rick questions.

"Think they're lying dad? … It's a news broadcast, if it was really that bad wouldn't we be hearing something from the CDC or WHO?" Alexis counters.

Rick didn't know what to say, he just didn't like the sound of it. "We still have work to do dad. You need to go talk to that advertising company followed by going to one of the travel agencies on our list." Alexis pats her dad and gets up to go back upstairs to take a shower. "And something for breakfast dad." Alexis offers a hint calling over her shoulder.

Alexis is back downstairs after showering and putting on clothes. "Grams!?" Alexis finds Martha dressed and sitting at the breakfast counter.

"Good morning darling." Martha gives Alexis a heartfelt hug.

"When did you get in grams?" Alexis knew Martha wasn't in when they got home yesterday.

"I got in late dear. I'm leaving again right after breakfast, we have a rehearsal to do today before our big play in a week." Martha had a big day today.

Alexis didn't know where her grandmother got all the energy from, however she was happy that she was doing something she loved. "Have any plans today dear?" Martha had her own question.

"Dad has errands to do and I have two travel agencies to visit today." Alexis tells her.

"So you and your father are really going to do this?" Martha questions, hoping that it was just a passing thing.

"Yes mother, everything has already been sold except for the one car and everything we need has been purchased. We just need for the last delivery to take place and have the workers show up. We'll be open and functioning in about three months." Rick tells her and he walks past her so he can start breakfast, which is what they are all sitting at the breakfast bar for.

"Have a pleasant day darling." Martha calls out on her way out the front door.

"Knock 'em dead grams." Alexis calls back.

**It is now one week later:**

Both Alexis and Rick were making good progress on their list of people they wanted to see and Alexis thought they were making an impact on all of them, after listening to her father. Not that Alexis was keeping her father out of the loop. Alexis was telling him what she thought of the reaction she was getting.

Rick however had a secret that he was keeping from Alexis because he knew that if he told her, his daughter would go ballistic on him. So he was hiding all of his recent purchases in the storage area down in the garage for now. He would move them to the car when they finally left the city.

Alexis was thinking that she was making inroads to getting Martha to move with them, but was thinking that she hadn't succeeded yet.

Alexis was up in the middle of the night and was walking downstairs to get a drink of water when she noticed that the TV was on. Alexis abandoned her glass of water and went over to the sofa and found her father sound asleep while still sitting up with the remote still in his hand.

He was on the CNN news channel and they had a running news band at the bottom of the TV, telling everyone that the CDC and members of the WHO were now researching the reported outbreak of rabies that had suddenly expanded past the 12 countries and involved still more.

It was enough to get Alexis to sit down and listen to the broadcasters talk about it. Alexis was forced to really listen because Rick had the volume turned down low, probably in an attempt to not wake up her or her grandmother.

It seems the first case was located in South Korea and had quickly spread from there. It was in China, Japan, Russia, Vietnam, Cambodia and several countries as it worked its way west towards Europe.

There were also reported cases in the Philippines and there were reported new cases in South America somehow. Speculation was that it was traveling via airplanes to other countries and spreading fast.

While Alexis was watching the banner across the bottom of the screen it changed to saying that the United States was stopping all international flights from entering the country. The United States was closing its borders.

Alexis took the remote out of her father's hand and turned off the TV and woke him up and guided her still mostly asleep father into his bedroom and pulled off his shoes and left him resting on his bed. Knowing that the second his second shoe had hit the floor, he was sound asleep again.

"Good night dad." Alexis whispers and bent over to kiss his head.

Kate was exiting the building where she had just spent the last six hours taking her captain's test. Kate would know if she had passed the test in 48 hours and would immediately turn around and apply for the position of captain of the 12th and with Montgomery behind her she had high hopes that she would get it. The people in this precinct needed her.

Also was a little voice in the back of her head telling her that she would have all these people who could help her with her mother's case. Have an entire precinct behind her gave her access to people she didn't normally have.

Kate hailed a taxi and gave him the address for the bar where the guys and Lanie said they would meet her at when she go out.

Lanie hoped out of the booth seeing Kate headed their way and hugged her tight. "How did it go girl?" Lanie was dying to hear what Kate thought.

"I won't get my official results for another 48 hours but I think it went pretty good. Captain Montgomery was a big help, I might not have passed without him." Kate was sure Roy had a lot to do with her passing.

"Don't sell yourself short girl, you're good and we all know it." Lanie still wasn't sure about this, but if Kate wanted it she was going to help all she could.

"She's right chica, you're good. You're lead detective for a reason, you'll make a great captain. You've already got half the precinct behind you and you aren't even captain yet." Espo points out.

"They're both right Beckett. You know that if Gates makes captain the 12th will be a ghost town and she'll fill the good people that leave with people like Slaughter and the 12th will be a laughing stock instead of the best precinct in the city.

You are going to be great, and you're not in this alone." Ryan points out.

"Anyone been watching the news?" Lanie brings up getting Kate and Espo to shake their heads, while Ryan was nodding his.

"Jenny is working herself into a meltdown and I can't get her to turn the TV off. She wouldn't go to bed at night if I didn't turn it off and take the remote away from her." Ryan moans.

"You really need to get her away from that TV, stress isn't good for her or the baby." Lanie warns him.

"So what is the TV saying that has Jenny so worked up? Espo asks, being concerned for his partner.

"Something about a massive rabies outbreak that started in South Korea and is spreading fast, and the US has closed its borders. No international flights, no ship traffic." Ryan explains.

"Mexico, Canada?" Kate asks.

"Haven't heard anything about them, likely they will be next, Mexico at least. Little harder to close the border with Canada." Ryan answers.

"Not like they have the border with Mexico closed now or ever will." Lanie points out.

"We'll be fine guys, that's what we have the CDC for, stop things like this." Kate counters.

"And you trust all those millionaire politicians who say they aren't involved with inside trading, or pass laws that affect the rest of us, just not them. Or give themselves huge raises when the rest of us are losing jobs by the millions, or change maps of who votes where to the benefit of one side and the detriment of the other?" Ryan counters.

"They're all corrupt Kate, the only question that needs to be answered is just how corrupt this one is compared to the other. We're not voting for who's best anymore, we're voting for who's not the worst." Lanie offers.

"They each spend millions telling us just how bad the other guy is, nothing about how good they are since they know that they are just as corrupt, only that the other guy is worse than them." Ryan piles on.

Kate knew they were both right, it's just that unless there was another revolution the size of the one with the British all those years ago, nothing was going to change. Even if you voted in a non-corrupt official, how long would he last? The others would swallow him up like Jonah and his whale.

The system was corrupt and Kate knew it, just that she only had control of what was around her, and if she was captain of a precinct, she had control over that.

The conversation quickly turned to less confrontational problems and more about local things. How Jenny was doing in her pregnancy, Espo's lack of a social life, Kate's lack of a social life, getting Kate to glare at Lanie. "Well it's the truth girlfriend." Lanie defends herself.

Ryan and Espo were the first to leave, leaving Kate and Lanie behind. "So girl tell me you are happy, I need to hear it."

"Lanie!" Kate moans, Kate thought Lanie knew she wasn't going to ever be Lanie's kind of happy.

"Your mother was murdered, blah, blah, blah. Are you trying to make yourself suffer even more because she's gone?" Lanie tries a different track using the same old cars.

"Of course not Lanie, it's just that it's not that easy for me. … And I am happy." Kate puts up a weak meaningless smile to prove she was happy.

"And that fake smile isn't fooling anyone girl. When was the last time you actually smiled because something went incredibly well? When did you last bust a gut laughing over something, and when was the last time you went out on a date?" Lanie questions Kate and doesn't give Kate a moment to respond.

"And if you say Will Sorenson I am so going to smack you." Lanie glared at Kate which actually did have Kate cowering even after all the times she had seen it.

It didn't help any when she knew Lanie was right. "It's late and I need to get up early and spend the day with Captain Montgomery to learn more about being captain of a precinct." Kate drinks down her drink and works at starting to get up only to find that the alcohol had affected her a little more than she thought it was.

"Running away doesn't solve anything Kate, one of these days you are going to run away too far and you're going to miss out and end up 80 years old and wonder 'IF ONLY'. … I just don't want that for you Kate, so this isn't over, not by a long shot." Lanie warns her.

Kate flagged down a taxi and let herself into her apartment and for the first time in a long time she noticed just how empty her apartment really was. No husband, no children, not even so much as a dog or even a cat that didn't require as much of her attention.

She didn't even cook anymore and hadn't much since her mother cooked with her. Kate opened her refrigerator and found nothing but left over meals in styrofoam containers that had been in there she didn't know how long.

Kate closed it and left the few water bottles that were in there and headed for her bedroom. The only room of her apartment that she spent the most time in. That and her bathroom.

Kate went through her ritual before going to bed. Kate did her best to dismiss what Lanie had said, just that it wasn't easy. Kate knew her walls were up and as strong as ever. They were wanted and necessary.

Losing her mother, the actions of Will and the tiny amount of other dates she had gone out on only proved that. Will was clearly the wrong guy, so was her one date with Tom down in robbery. Boy was going out with him ever the wrong thing to do. His actions made it all too clear that her going out to dinner with him meant she was supposed to go to bed with him after.

Kate was ready to shoot him, but slammed her front door in his face instead and shot daggers at him every time she saw him after that.

Then there was the 'hunk' fireman that Lanie had set her up with. They hadn't even gotten their drinks yet when he asked if she wanted to have sex. Which was a pity since if she did have a drink, even if it was just water, she would have thrown it in his face before walking out on him.

Lanie took a real pasting the next day when Kate got her claws on her. It had however gotten Kate's point across and Lanie hadn't tried to set her up with another blind date after that.

It took Kate some time for her mind to spin down to something slower and allow her to fall asleep.

Kate spent the next two days under Roy's tutelage about how to run a precinct and not just the homicide floor. Kate was sitting at her desk when someone dropped off a large vanilla envelope that had her name on it. It also gave her a clue about what was in it.

It took Kate a few moments to get herself to open it and her apprehension about what was inside it had not gone un-noticed by Espo and Ryan.

Kate had the one single piece of paper that was in it out and was reading it for the third time when she finally found her voice. "I passed." Kate whispered only loud enough for herself to hear.

"I passed." Kate spoke a little louder.

"I passed!" Kate almost yelled this time. Kate now had the rank of captain.

It only took a few minutes for half the precinct to be on the fourth floor congratulating Kate on making captain. Now they could only hope that she was their new captain, and to a man and woman they all had letters ready to send to 1PP supporting her being made captain of the 12th to replace Montgomery.


	3. Chapter 3

**CH3**

**It is now 2 days later:**

The last two days had been a whirlwind for Kate and even everyone at the 12th. Kate had passed her captains exam. She had gone through the ceremony of accepting her captain's bars. Roy Montgomery had actually taken his off and placed them on Kate who was dressed in her dress blues.

Everyone that could from the 12th had attended and like an Army/Navy football game or a high school graduation, hats went flying into the air and everyone was screaming and yelling.

Kate next found herself in her father's arms wiping away her tears. "I'm proud of you honey. … Your mother would be proud of you too." Jim tells Kate.

"Thanks dad. … I love you." Kate hugged her father, even after all they had been through together and separate from each other.

"I love you too honey. You're going to make a great precinct captain." Jim knew why Kate was doing this, even if she wasn't captain of a precinct yet.

It was hours later and after all of the celebrations. The guys were out in the bull pen working on one of their many cases. Lanie was downstairs after hugging and crying all over Kate after going over the latest body that was a simple GSW to the chest that uniforms had just found their lead suspect hiding out in his parent's home.

Kate was in Roy's office going over a recent robbery report followed by a report on the recent gang activity when there was a knock on Roy's office door.

They guys and everyone else in the precinct had seen these two enter the building and were whispering their thoughts about why there were here.

Everyone on the 4th floor had stopped working as they all watched these two walk for Roy's office. Epso took a pen being thrown in his chest from Ryan who gestured to the two men that Espo had his back to.

Ryan and Espo, like everyone else that could see this had stopped breathing. "Roy, got a moment." Bob Wheldon asked him.

"I'll be right outside." Kate offered and got up to step past them.

"Stay captain, we're here for you too." Bob tells her.

"I think you know we're going to miss you Roy, you've done a lot of good work over the years. I know your official last day isn't for another 10 days, however word of what you have been doing the last few weeks as made it out of this precinct." Bob tells him.

"Thank you sir, I've done my best. I've had a good team here to work with." Roy was proud of what the 12th had accomplished.

The Commissioner steps up next and hands over a large vanilla envelope to Kate. "Captain Katherine Houghton Beckett, this is our official offer for you to take over as Captain of the 12th precinct in four days time. In the intervening time you and Montgomery will be co-captains of the 12th precinct until Roy's official last day here takes place.

You'll find our official offer along with all the other paperwork, base pay, medical coverage's, 401K options and the various pieces of paperwork that require your signature." The commissioner completes his small speech.

"Also after you accept and send in your signed paperwork, you will be spending the next 4 days at a seminar that we are sending a few captains to, with pay of course. You will be driving yourself there and your hotel stay is already taken care of. You will find all of that in there too." The commissioner adds.

Kate quickly closes her mouth, she may have made captain but there was no guarantee that she would be make captain of the 12th. Cast Iron Bottom Sound Gates had more seniority over her.

"I know this is a lot to think about Captain Beckett, think it over and send in the paperwork only if you really want this.

To be honest my IN BOX in my office has been overflowing the last few days with letters from officers in this precinct rating your skills to take this job as being rather high. … There were also a number of letters that also indicated that they would be applying for a transfer if we didn't offer you the job." Bob admits.

"You already have a lot of support in this precinct captain, it was one of the things that we considered in who to offer the position to. Along with the support of the 12th 's present captain." The commissioner adds.

Kate has the envelope in her hands and is still stunned. "Thank you sir, you'll have my answer before the end of the day." Kate tells them.

"Just so long as it is a yes Captain." Bob shakes Kate's hand as does the commissioner.

"Your official date is not for another 10 days Roy, we've already got a big going away ceremony planned along with some parting gifts down at 1PP. Yourself and the 12th's new captain will be expected to attend, naturally." Bob shakes Roy's hand as does the commissioner.

"You will be missed Roy, but I think your replacement leaves the 12th in good hands." The commissioner tells him.

"Thank you sir, I'll make sure we're all there." Roy responds.

"And don't forget to bring that lovely wife of yours and the kids." Bob adds before the two of them leave his office and head back to 1PP to continue the planning for what comes next.

"You'll do great Beckett, you're the best I've ever seen." Roy tells her after they were gone. "Now get out of my office, and take those two with you. I think a celebration is in order." Roy tells her. "And Beckett, congratulations, I'm sure you'll have a long and successful career as Captain. At least until you decide you want to replace someone a little higher up." Roy smiles at Kate.

"Yes sir, thank you sir." And Kate heads out of his office.

Ryan and Espo are soon on her like white of rice when Kate reaches her desk. What will soon be her old desk that is. "AND!?" Ryan can't take the suspense.

"I was offered the job as captain of the 12th." Kate tells them just loud enough that others could hear and word had spread down to the basement where Lanie was faster than any fire in the history of fires.

"Montgomery also gave the three of us the day off to celebrate. I need to sign these and get them over to 1PP first though." Kate points out.

"You don't have to tell me twice, let's find some lunch since it's too early for drinks." Espo offers and scrambles for his desk to retrieve his weapon and badge.

Kate had her papers signed and in another envelope ready to drop them off downstairs to be taken to 1PP along with all the other paperwork for the day. "We need to stop and pick up Lanie." Kate tells them.

"Was she included in the day off Montgomery gave us?" Espo asks.

"She is now. Consider it my first executive decision as captain of the 12th." Kate tells them.

Kate and the guys were standing at the elevator waiting when the 4th floor erupted into applause. It got Kate to start blushing and hide her head. Kate did however offer a little wave after stepping into the elevator before the doors closed.

It was a little more subdued down in the basement, at least until someone screamed. "KATHERINE BECKETT!" And Lanie slammed into Kate and gave her the Lanie bear hug of the century.

"Lanie, … can't breathe." Kate manages to whisper out.

"I'm so happy for you girl, please tell me your excited." Lanie just wanted Kate to be happy.

"To be honest, I'm not sure just what I am just yet. Maybe it'll hit me tonight when I read all the paperwork that came with the offer." Kate tells her. "Right now Montgomery has given us the rest of the day off, so we're headed for lunch. You're invited of course." Kate tells her.

"Let's go." Lanie dumps all her stuff and grabs her purse and has a hold of Kate's arm as they make their way up to the first floor, where all hell breaks loose.

Kate is mobbed by officers congratulating her and shaking her hand, so much so that it takes half an hour to get from the elevators to the front door and out onto the sidewalk. "I told you, you were in girl." Lanie tells Kate hugging her yet again.

They were all in a local burger place since the food here was good and plus they served milkshakes all of which was artery hardening, just what the doctor ordered, and since Lanie worked only with dead people she didn't have a say in their choice of good food choices.

Besides Lanie wolfed down her burger just as fast as Kate did.

"So tell me about this deal they offered." Lanie asks now that they were down to just sucking their milkshakes through a straw.

Kate pulled out her envelope and started pulling papers out. "Oooo, can't show you that one." Kate places it face down and covers it up and keeps a hand on it, even though she had taken a peek at it. $101,742 annually. "They want me to go to some seminar for four days starting tomorrow." Kate hands over the paperwork for that.

Kate finds her 401K paperwork, medical coverage, minimum hours expected and job description.

"They want you to go to Jersey for this seminar." Espo points out, since he loathes all things Jersey.

"JERSEY!?" Kate snatches the papers out of his hand and starts looking at them. "Three night stay at Crowne Plaza Fairfield, 690 Route 46 East, Fairfield, NJ 07004. … What the hell am I doing over there?" Kate couldn't believe it.

What the hell was near there anyway that could handle a seminar, and why in the hell is it in Jersey?

"It's a hotel, don't all hotel's have banquet facilities?" Lanie offers taking the papers from Kate to read them herself.

"Couldn't they do it closer to home, so that I didn't need a hotel?" Kate questions. Now she needed to pack at least 3 days of clothes if not 4. This was beginning to suck and she hadn't even been on the job one day yet.

The guys and Lanie congratulated Kate yet again as they split up outside of the restaurant. Kate wanted to go home and read the rest of her paperwork and think about her finances with her new pay. Plus she needed to pack for a few days and plan out her morning.

"Jersey!?" Kate was talking to herself as she hailed a cab to take her home.

The last of the boxes in the loft went to donation company. Even the kitchen was getting thin in the way of food. Rick had plans to empty it and clean it for the new tenants that had bought the place. They would have to starve for breakfast before driving for Jersey for the last time. Possibly the very last time ever.

"Have you loaded the car dad?" Alexis asks.

"All there is, is our suitcase's that will get loaded in the morning and what is in the storage area in the garage." Rick tells her as he pulls out the last of almost everything so he can make dinner. The last dinner in the loft.

"I'll do it." Alexis offered and headed for the front door.

"Thanks, dinner will be ready soon so don't take too long." Rick called after her.

Alexis was out the door already when what Alexis had said registered in his brain. "ALEXIS WAIT!" Rick ran for the door but she was already in the elevator on her way down to the garage. "She's going to kill me." Rick knew he was in big trouble when she got back. So he started thinking up what he was going to say when she got back.

Alexis had the fob for the car and opened it and went over to the storage unit and unlocked it. Inside Alexis found one long hard sided piece of luggage and four good sized duffel bags.

Alexis started with the one long case which had a little weight to it but nothing she couldn't handle. It did cause her to put one of the back seats down to gain the length she needed. After putting that one in the car she went back for the other case.

After that came the first duffel bag, which weighed a lot more then she gave it credit. Getting it into the back of the car was a bigger challenge since she saw three more bags to put into it.

The second and third weighed just as much as did the fourth. Now Alexis was curious, just what was her dad planning on taking with them? The weight didn't concern her, they could handle this and six people.

Alexis zipped it open and pulled it open and found a smaller hard sided case inside along with several small boxes.

All of the boxes were the same color and size and there were a lot of them.

Remington Golden Saber, .45 ACP Smith &amp; Wesson.

Alexis had a clue as to what this was but she opened it just the same. "Bullets!" Alexis whispered to herself. "What the hell are you doing dad!?" This got Alexis to open the small hard case bag that was in the duffel bag. It held a semi-automatic weapon that had the word SIG on the side of it.

"Weapons and bullets." Alexis whispered out and looked up at the roof, wondering who was in their now old home and what he had done with her dad?

Alexis put it all back into the car and locked it up and left the storage unit open since it was empty now and went back upstairs to find out who was actually up there and were her real dad was.

Alexis was sitting at the breakfast bar eating what Rick had cooked, if it really was Rick and was giving him the silent treatment.

Rick ate his dinner in silence. Alexis had come back and not yelled at him, in fact she hadn't said a word since she got back, and it was slowly eating at him.

Rick put his fork down, since he had reached his breaking point. "Alexis I can explain." Rick offered only to watch Alexis ignore him and just keep eating.

"I know you don't like that I'm watching the news too much and probably think I've finally lost my mind. … However Alexis, do you really buy into this many countries having a rabid rabies epidemics. The US has closed their borders, all international travel has been suspended. Even Europe has started closing their borders. Just this afternoon they called up the National Guard in the area along the border with Mexico and deployed all their big weapons to close the border completely. Tell me this is all because of a rabies outbreak." Rick tries to plead his case and challenges Alexis to contradict him.

"Weapons dad?" Alexis couldn't counter what was on the news, it even had her sucked into watching it a little.

"And what do you think comes next pumpkin with the borders all closed and no flights. They have reporters out at the airports and all flights have practically ended because no one is flying. AmtraK is running almost empty, only those people with bigger commutes are traveling at all.

Tell me what comes next?" Rick challenges her.

Alexis sighed, between the two of them she was still the adult in this family but there were times when her father would decide to grow up momentarily. He just had to pick now as one of those times.

"We need to leave in the morning then and that's if we can get out." Alexis caved in and was off the weapons for now.

"Already thought about that, I booked us a hotel room just a mile away. The drive early in the morning should be simple, in case the bridges are clogged tomorrow. We just need our bags and we can leave." Rick offers.

They have the car loaded with their two bags and the weapons and ammunition that Alexis had already loaded when Rick started reaching the bridge between Manhattan and Jersey. The traffic was moving, but really slowly.

When they got close enough they found that the bridge looked like a military encampment.

There were two M1/A1 Abrams main battle tanks along with 2 Bradley fighting vehicles. There was also a few Humvee's, most of which had a heavy machine gun mounted on them and they were all manned. In addition there were sandbags all along the edge of the river on each side.

As Rick approached there were several soldiers that were all heavily armed and they waved him through along with all the others. "I take it back dad." Alexis tells him about him buying weapons and leaving tonight instead of in the morning. As Alexis waves at the soldier who was waving them through.

It took almost an hour for them to reach the hotel and check in. "We have lots of cancellations, so we have lots of room." One of the two guys on the front desk tells them. "Breakfast is between 6:00 and 9:00 in the morning. Have a pleasant night." And hands over the plastic keys and tells them how to get to their room.

It was a seen one seen them all style of room with two queen sized beds, one bathroom, flat screen TV, small table with two chairs, mini fridge with nothing in it, iron and ironing board, and a safe.

"Be it ever so simple, it's home till morning." Rick offers and promptly turns on the TV to watch the news.

Kate was home and all packed that night and was anxious. She wanted this stupid seminar to be over so she could get back to work, and she wasn't remotely sleepy. "Maybe there is an all-night restaurant that I can relax in if my room isn't ready yet." Kate talks to herself. Knowing that most hotels don't have check-ins until 4:00 pm tomorrow.

Kate has made up her mind and goes out to her cruiser and throws her bag with 4 days of clothes inside along with some odds and ends that she thought she might need, which included the two signed books written my Richard Castle, even if she had read them countless times.

Something had gotten thrown in entire box and all, even if she did only need 4.

Kate was out on the road headed for the bridge leading to Jersey when traffic slowed considerably. Kate wasn't in a hurry and using her lights to get them to move was against regulations, so she just inched along like all the others.

When Kate got close she found the bridge entrance manned by the army, complete with tanks and other big vehicles and humvees, with men manning the machine guns that were mounted on them.

"What the hell?" Kate watched all of them and went across the bridge when the soldier waved her through. It gave her a really bad feeling about this, however she continued on anyway as planned.

"Katherine Beckett, … your reservation doesn't start until tomorrow, however we have had a lot of cancellations so we have room. For you since your part of the seminar party it's only $65 a night for tonight. The other nights are already paid for." He informs Kate who hands over her card.

Kate has her room card and directions on how to get there. Kate is just approaching where she was going to park her car when she saw a man and a young woman, each with a bag leaving their car and going inside the same building she was going to enter.

"Is that?" Kate questions herself. "Nah, can't be. Why would he be in this hotel?" Kate shakes her head. She must really be tired if she's seeing Richard Castle and some really young woman with him entering a hotel. "Maybe he hasn't given up his playboy image, just she was really young looking." Kate's opinion of her favorite author just went down several notches. It was quick so she didn't get a good look at the woman, but her hair color was something she wasn't likely to forget.

Kate grabbed her bag and found her room and dropped it on one of the two beds.

It was a seen one, seen them all hotel room, nothing special. At least it had breakfast in the morning.

Kate decided that she really was tired, so she made preparations to go to bed, and was asleep in minutes, which was different for her. Kate was sure she was going to toss and turn for most of the night, especially with what she saw at the bridge over to here.

Rick however was wide awake with Alexis curled up in the bed next to him. Rick had the sound turned way down so he was only watching the screen.

Rick was jolted awake and found himself sleeping on his bed, or at least he was sleeping, and the TV was still on. It was about now that he heard a number of car horns that sounded like the owner of said horn was really pissed.

Rick rolled out of bed and went over to the window and peeked outside. The sun wasn't quit up just yet, but it was getting close. The parking lot and the street beyond looked like a mad house.

Rick turned to look back into the room to see Alexis still asleep curled up cutely with pillows all around her, while she held on tightly to monkey bunkey.

(Maybe she still is my little girl, just in an older body)

Rick went back to watching the idiots and their cars when he decided to move back over to the TV.

What he saw had him scrambling for the remote and turned the volume up a lot higher.

"ALEXIS! …. Alexis." Rick tried shaking her again to wake her up.

"Vhat dad?" Alexis groans out still half asleep.

"Get up, up, up, up. You need to see." Rick shakes her even harder till she was up and watching her dad move over to his bed to sit in front of the TV and turn the volume up even higher.

Alexis was watching and listening and her mouth was falling open further and further. "MY GOD DAD!"

"We need to move pumpkin, get dressed and grab your bag, we're leaving. … NOW!" Rick tells her. Neither bother using the bathroom to change clothes in, time was something it looked like they didn't have.

Kate was jolted awake by the sounds of car horns and rolled out of bed to look. Being on the top floor she found herself looking out onto chaos as people were trying to drive everywhere all at the same time. "What the hell?"

Kate moved over to the TV and turned it on and started watching and listening. "OH, MY, GOD!?"

Kate scrambled for her phone and pulled it off the charger cord and called Espo. "Espo, what the hell is going on?" Kate asks.

"Ryan and I and others are at the precinct. Marshal Law has been declared and all law enforcement officers have been called in. Didn't you get a call?" Espo tells her.

Kate took a look at her phone and found one missed call. "Damn. I'll be there as fast as I can." Kate tells him starting to strip off her sleep clothes and pull out clothes she can wear.

"It's too late Beckett, you'll never make it. The military has already told us that they are in the process of blowing all the bridges and tunnels that lead into Manhattan. Manhattan island is about to be an island, so unless you can fly there is no way back." Espo tells her.

That got Kate to stop changing her clothes. "Damn seminar!" Kate was really pissed now.

"Find somewhere to go Beckett and take lots of ammunition with you, all you can. And good luck, from what we hear they are everywhere and spreading fast. It only takes seconds to be infected. Just make sure they don't bite you." Espo tells her.

That didn't make sense to Kate. Not let who or what bite me? It did however get Kate back into changing clothes after putting her phone on speaker.

"Find my dad Espo and get him to the precinct. … Please Espo?" Kate needed for him to be safe, he was all she had left.

"We'll do what we can Beckett, but it's a mess out there." Espo would do it, just wasn't sure if him and Ryan would succeed.

"Just do what you can Espo, he's all I have left. I'll call you again when I can." Kate hangs up and stuffs everything into her bag and runs down the stairs with waiting for an elevator sounding like a really bad idea and out the door for her car.

It was a mad house out here too as Kate ran for her car.

Out here she found Richard Castle and his young woman throwing bags into the back of their car. "Hurry up dad, we need to get there, like now!" Alexis yells at him, sounding scared since she was.

DAD! It was his daughter! Kate was ready to kick herself for jumping to conclusions. "WAIT! …. NYPD." Kate shows her badge. "Can I come with you?" Kate asks since it sounded like they had a plan and she didn't.

Rick didn't hesitate while Alexis got in the passenger seat. "Throw in your bag." As Rick holds the rear of the car open.

"Wait one." Kate steps over to her car that was parked next to theirs and opens the trunk and pulls out the bag she knew was in there and throws it at Castle, and then reaches in and pulls out the shotgun that was in it also.

That and her bag went into the back of his car and Rick slammed it closed with Rick getting behind the wheel and Kate in the only usable back seat.


	4. Chapter 4

**CH4**

There are a lot of questions being answered in the next two chapters along with some new ones. Some answers are obvious while others are a little more hidden. Read carefully. Just saying! Please don't shoot me!

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Rick started driving and had already sideswiped two cars in his mad dash to get out of the parking lot only to find the road out front clogged with traffic and people running past the stopped cars.

Rick however simply turned to the right hard and crashed through a small fence and started driving down the side walk, wiping out anything that got in his way. Then he turned hard right again into a parking lot and put his foot down and crashed through the wooden fence at the end of the parking lot.

They soon found themselves out in open ground with a few trees around that had Rick weaving between them.

"Where are we going?" Kate called from the back seat.

"We have a plan and a way out of here; it's just the other side of this wooded area and through a chain link fence." Rick calls out as he keeps weaving between trees.

"We have a place far from here; we just need to get to our transportation." Alexis adds as she hangs on and watches her father drive.

It took a few minutes of mad driving as far as Kate was concerned, however she had to admit he hadn't hit anything since those two cars.

Suddenly they shot out into the open and Rick was headed right for a chain link fence with razor wire across the top as Kate felt him put his foot to the floor, giving the car all the power it had and crashed through the fence and then drove with his foot still on the floor across a wide strip of concrete and Kate watched him head for one section.

Kate was still watching as small single engine planes came into view, however Rick blew right past all of them, however he was slowing down as Kate could feel he now had his foot on the brake.

They stopped next to a larger twin engine plane and Rick stopped the car and then himself and Alexis jumped out.

2011 Beechcraft King Air 350i, Collins pro Line 21 – Three AFD-3010 Displays – 2 PFD's &amp; MFD, 189.5 hours.

"We need fuel dad!" Alexis yells and heads for one of the tie downs.

"I'll get the truck." Rick yells out and starts running.

"Here are the keys, open it up and start taking everything out of the back of the car." Alexis throws the keys at Kate who catches them and walks around the side of the plane looking for the way in.

Once Kate had it open she started pulling stuff out of the back of the car and taking it inside the plane while Alexis removed all the tie downs and then went in search of a ladder so she could get up onto one of the wings and open the fuel port and wait for her dad.

Kate meanwhile was loading the plane and was almost done when Rick showed up with the fuel truck and handed up the fuel nozzle to Alexis and Rick turned on the pumps when Alexis called out.

Kate was done and had everything inside the plane taking up most of the aisle way between the six leather seats. "Now what? What can I do?" Kate asked them.

"You armed?" Rick asks Kate. Kate's reply was to pull her service weapon out of her holster and take up a position at the rear of the plane.

Rick moved the fuel truck to the other side while Alexis scampered up onto the other wing.

Kate didn't like what she was hearing. It sounded like a lot of screaming, except there was a different sound that was beginning to overpower the screaming. It was different and it was making the hairs on the back of her neck rise up. It was an eerie sound, that didn't bode well for them.

"Hurry up." Kate yelled out.

"Done, move the truck dad." As Alexis closed the access cover and scampered down the ladder and pushed it over and ran for the stairs into the plane.

Kate didn't like the sound that was getting bigger, louder and likely closer. Kate didn't see anything yet but it was out there somewhere.

Kate could hear the port engine starting up when Rick yelled at her. "Get in!" Rick was waving his arm in a circle signaling Kate to hurry up.

Kate flew up the stairs with Rick right behind her. "Sit up front with Alexis." Rick calls out and lifts up the steps as he sees the starboard engine starting to turn over.

Rick slaps the handle sealing the door in place and pokes his head into the cockpit. "Time to go pumpkin." And Rick steps back and sits in the first seat he comes across and buckles up.

Kate was watching Alexis flipping switches. "Keep your feet off the paddles and your hands off the yoke unless I tell you to." Alexis calls out not bothering to look at Kate.

Kate stuffed her feet under her seat as best she could and put her hands between her legs and looked at all the switches, the multiple levers in the center and the three colored screens in front of her.

It was obvious the seat Alexis was in had been modified for her since she was so much shorter than Kate. And then they were moving.

Kate watched Alexis take them down to the end of the runway and made a turn and pushed some of the levers in the middle far to the forward and Kate could hear the change in tone of the two props as they surged forward.

"Buckle up." Alexis offers up. As Kate started searching for the seat belt. "It's a shoulder harness like mine over your shoulder." Alexis had spared Kate a quick look.

Kate was scrambling for her shoulder belts when she saw movement and pointed while stopping to put on her harness.

"I see them." Alexis responded, while Kate finished strapping in.

Kate put her feet down on the floor and used her legs to lift up and look out the front windscreen.

It looked like a wave of people headed their way, all running fast. Kate could make out that a lot of them were bloody looking; they were also discolored, like bruises or something.

Kate kept watching as the mob got closer and closer. It was like watching the fans of a home team flood the field after a big win that they weren't expected to win. Kate didn't like how close they were getting, when Alexis started pulling back on the yoke.

Kate felt a single bump that had the yoke in Alexis's hand shake lightly. "We hit one of them, likely chopped him into itsy bitsy pieces." Alexis comments as she watched the read out of the starboard engine flutter temporarily.

As they started to go up into the sky. "Are we in trouble?" Kate didn't know anything about planes, certainly not this one.

"This is a twin turbo prop. All we did was turn him into confetti. This is not a jet with turbine blades. … Bird strikes to a jet can damage the blades. Damage enough of them and you blow an engine. All he did to us was get our prop messy." Alexis explains, getting Kate to relax back in her seat.

They had been flying for maybe 45 minutes when Kate could see Alexis talking to someone and tried yelling over the noise and through her headset to ask about it. It got Alexis to pick up a head set and hand them to Kate. "Who are you talking to?" Kate asks.

"Them." And Alexis points out the window on Kate's right side.

A little ways out the window Kate saw an F/A-18E super hornet. A navy fighter bomber.

"They want to know where we are going and if we are secure. There is an aircraft carrier below us somewhere." Alexis explains as Kate watches the navy jet peel off quickly having gotten a satisfactory answer Kate guesses.

They had been traveling for a while when Kate had another question. "Can we make a phone call from up here? I have some friends I left behind that were going to go get my father." Kate asks Alexis.

"I just need the number you want to call." Alexis answers.

After Kate gives it to her. "Talk." Alexis tells her.

"Espo?" Kate was hoping that was who was on the other end.

"Beckett! How are you? … Where are you?" Espo answers getting Kate to start breathing again.

"I'm fine and I'm not sure just where we are at the moment." Kate tells him.

"We're about 89 miles off the East Coast at 22, 500 feet at the moment." Alexis can also hear the conversation since she is wearing a head set too.

"Who was that Beckett?" Espo was only a little concerned.

"My pilot, we barely escaped from a small airport before we were overrun. Did you find my dad?" Kate asks him.

"Katie?" Jim's voice replaces Espo's.

"Dad!" Kate relaxes a little. "Are you alright, where are you?" Kate fires off a couple of questions.

"I'm fine, we're driving to get to your precinct and I think we're almost there." Jim tells her. "Espo has told me that the military has blown all access to Manhanttan. We're effectively isolated from everywhere else." Jim explains.

"Just stay close to Espo dad. They'll take good care of you." Kate trusted them.

"What about you Katie, are you safe?" Jim was worried about where she was after what Espo had told him.

"I'm fine dad; I'm in a plane flying to somewhere. … I'm fine dad, just fine." Kate tells him, meaning to ask her saviors where they are going.

"Can your friends go get someone else?" Alexis interjects herself into the conversation.

"Who was that?" Jim asks.

"My pilot, hand the phone back to Espo dad." Kate asks of him. "I'll try and call you again later."

"Beckett?" Espo comes back on.

"My pilot has a question." Kate nods at Alexis.

"Can you go get my grandmother and take her with you? Her name is Martha Rodgers." Alexis asks them.

"She has saved my life Espo, if you can do it can you try please." Kate adds.

Alexis gives the address.

"Diverting now, we are actually not that far away. Is it possible to call and warn her? I don't want to have to force her." Espo asks.

"We will call her, thanks Espo, I owe you." Kate confirms watching Alexis nod her head.

The call ended and Alexis made another call. "Grams?" Alexis was glad to hear her voice.

"Alexis darling!" Martha sighed. "Are you alright? Where is your father?" Martha fires off her own questions.

"We're in the air grams; we've got about another three hours before we get there. Grams, I need you to listen. A pair of police officers are going to come and get you and take you to someplace safe. You need to pack a bag and go with them." Alexis asks of Martha.

"What's going on Alexis, there are TV reports telling us that there have been several nuclear explosions on the border with Mexico. They told us that the cities of San Diego, Tucson, El Paso, Laredo, Yuma, Douglas, Brownsville, Nogales. … They are all gone dear; they say they are all gone." Martha was scared.

Kate's mouth was hanging open when she heard this. Just what the hell was going on?

"I don't know grams; we're in the air and out of contact. Please grams go pack a bag and go with the officers when they show up." Alexis wanted Martha to do as she asked and go somewhere safe.

"If you're sure dear. … You and your father stay safe dear. … I love both of you." Martha relents.

"I love you too grams. Dad will call you later, be safe grams." Alexis ends the call and wipes tears from her eyes.

"Thank you." Alexis turns to look at Kate.

"You two have saved my life, it's the least I can do. I just wish I knew what was going on." Kate may be safe for now, but she was in the dark.

"Where are we going anyway?" Kate finally asks.

"Dad sold everything and bought two islands that are part of a chain of islands in the Bahamas. Dad stopped writing after he killed off Derek Storm and bought the islands to turn them into place for a roughing it vacationers with camping, deep sea fishing, scuba diving and snorkeling.

There was an old mansion that was built in 1938 by a German sympathizer during the war. He even had three trenches dug out for U-boats to dock and effect repairs. We're using them to house the three boats we have for deep sea fishing expeditions.

The house was in bad shape but we had it renovated, it's actually pretty nice now. It even came with an airfield which is where we will be landing.

We were about three months from opening when this happened. There shouldn't be anyone there unless there was someone out in a long distance boat in the area. We were only just starting to think about hiring the help." Alexis explains.

"Sounds isolated." Kate was wondering why out here?

"It's one of the top locations for scuba diving and snorkeling. The waters are so clear and deep sea fishing is just right out our back door.

We have these tents that guests will be using, complete with sleeping, cooking area, white sandy beaches, warm weather." Alexis adds information.

"What about us and us and getting no outside help?" To Kate it sounded like they weren't going to be getting any help.

"We have a huge cistern that the original owner placed under the house. We added Honeywell windmills, solar power panels, solar hot water system, with battery backup. There are two large propane tanks and two large tanks for gasoline, so we can fill the boats with fuel. Along with the several jet skis.

The airfield has a fuel tank and small fuel truck. There is already enough aviation fuel there for us to fill the tanks of this plane three times." Alexis adds.

"What if there is already a plane there?" Where do they land if the runway was already filled?

Alexis shook her head. "The runway isn't long enough or capable of handling jets of any size and it's too far away for a single engine plane even if it came from Miami, which is the closest large city. It's actually almost too short for us. We're the right size with the right amount of range and we bought it used, saving us money." Alexis explains where they are going. "Excuse me." Alexis stopped talking to Kate, however Kate could see she was talking to someone.

"Sorry, can you go get dad and have him sit where you are?" Alexis needed to talk with him.

"Sure." Kate took the head set off and released her harness and worked slowly at getting out of her seat without touching anything she thought she shouldn't.

"Hi." Kate moved over to where her favorite author was sitting quietly. "Your daughter wants you." This got Rick to get up and Kate took his seat.

(He really is handsome in person). He and his daughter had saved her life. Even if her running across them was purely by accident. It left her wondering what Richard Castle was like in person. And it looked like she was going to find out.

Rick was back in a little while leaving Alexis alone."Richard Castle, that is my daughter Alexis." Rick offers as he sits down next to Kate.

"Captain Kate Beckett, NYPD, 12th precinct." Kate offers her hand and feels Rick's soft hand take hers. His fingers felt strong and soft at the same time, getting her wondering just what he could do with those hands.

(Mind out of the gutter Kate, you only just met him)

"Captain, sounds exciting." Rick offers thinking she was the most beautiful captain he had ever met, let alone the most beautiful cop he had ever met.

"I haven't even started my job as captain yet. I was assigned only just yesterday and was told to attend a seminar at that hotel." Kate explains, not trying to extract her hand from Rick's.

"You seem young to be a captain of an entire precinct, you must be very good." Rick thinks it must be obvious.

"Thanks." Kate breaks from looking at his eyes and looks temporarily at the floor, not being used to being complimented about how she looks.

"Well I'm glad we could be of service. Has Alexis told you where we are going?" Rick asks Kate squeezing her hand that was still in his.

Kate takes her hand back. "She has, she also told me a little about the place, it sounds nice. Alexis also helped me talk to my dad and had my friends go pick up your mother and take her to the precinct also." Kate informs him.

That got Rick to open his eyes wide. "Thank you captain Beckett, that was thoughtful of you, my family means a lot to me. I just never expected, … this." Rick sweeps his arms wide. Even if he had a vision of it happening. It was part of his vivid imagination.

"You sure I won't be an imposition on you?" Kate didn't know what she was going to do if she was.

"Of course not, we have lots of room, and as you've likely found out, plenty of power and fuel and resources." Rick was glad she was hear, it gave him and his daughter someone to talk to.

"Resources?" Kate questions, since Alexis only talked about power and water, not food.

"The big island has several types of fruit trees and some nut trees. There is a small greenhouse we had planned on growing vegetables in. You know anything about growing plants?" Rick asks, because without the workers he hadn't hired yet neither he nor Alexis had green thumbs.

Kate shook her head. "Sorry I can probably kill anything except the weeds." Kate laughed at herself.

Rick loved the sound of her voice and her laugh, and decided he would do what he could to hear more of it.

"We've also got a few chickens, six in fact along with a few running wild pigs that aren't actually wild hogs, those would be too dangerous to have roaming around loose. The idea was to use them as part of the food for luaus for the guests." Rick explains.

It sounded like they had everything. "Soap, clothes, feminine products?" Kate had her own worries.

"We have a gift shop; all it has are swim suits however. I'm sure we can find something that will fit you to your satisfaction." Rick was dying to see Kate in a bikini all day long. "It also has things like sunscreen, pepto, and aspirin. Think anything a gift shop in a major hotel would have and we have it. Including drinks, chips and other things.

The house has a large kitchen and a huge pantry along with a few freezers. The pantry is full, we took care of that our last time out here. The freezers however are presently empty. We were on our way out here to start the process to hire workers and fill the freezers.

As for feminine things we have a lot because of my daughter and our anticipated guests. It should last the two of you for quite some time.

Medical however is limited to several first-aid kits, anything worse than that and they would get flown out by Alexis." Rick explains.

"Alexis is a little young to be a pilot." Kate points out.

This got Rick to smile, since he was really proud of his little girl. "Can't even legally drive a car but can fly a plane. She has her instrument only license for this class of plane. We found the plane in Wichita, Kansas. We took a commercial flight out and flew it home. Essex county airport was the closest large enough airport that had space for our size of plane. Even if it wasn't as close as we would like." Rick offers up some information.

"I'm really proud of her, I made a change in my life and Alexis jumped in and took classes to learn how to fly. Mother was the only one who questioned my choice. Well her and my publisher." Rick tells her still smiling at what his daughter was willing to do for him.

"Excuse me." Kate goes forward to Alexis since she saw Alexis waving her hand.


	5. Chapter 5

**CH5**

Kate sat down in the vacant seat next to Alexis and put the head set back on. "What?" Kate asks looking at Alexis, only to see Alexis point past her out the window.

Kate turned to look and saw that the F/A-18 E was back. "They want us to alter course and he wants the names of everyone on board. I didn't want to speak for you." Alexis tells Kate.

Kate was still impressed with this young woman. Alexis looked like she was around 16 years old and yet she knew how to fly a plane and she wasn't cracking under the pressure. Very impressed.

Alexis nodded her head. "I'm Captain Katherine Houghton Beckett of the New York Police Department, 12th Precinct. Badge number 41319." Kate tells them, and then watches the navy fighter/bomber bank away quickly.

"He tell you anything? What's going on?" Kate turns to look at Alexis.

"Not much, just that they are thinking of dropping a nuke and they want us further away from the coast when they do and to shield our eyes." Alexis explains as she makes her own sharp turn that will take them further out over the Atlantic Ocean.

"Do we have the range for this?" Kate didn't exactly know where they were going or what this plane can do.

"We'll be fine; it's just going to take us a little longer to get there." Alexis explains as she starts to level out.

"Your dad told me you have your instruments only license for this." Kate points out.

That got Alexis to start smiling wide. "It was my idea after dad came up with this plan of his. I studied through summer to finish high school early and was going to take at least my first semester of college on-line so I could fly the guests back and forth, likely out of Miami since it's the closest.

It was a lot of work, and I think dad questioned my wanting to do it, but I kinda like it. Flying gives me a freedom I haven't felt before. …. It's nice." Alexis turns her head to look at Kate and smile wide.

"I don't know of any women your age that would even try doing this. This is impressive." Kate really was impressed with her. "Where is your mother?"

"Mom lives in California, she's never really been a mother. I think she likes the idea of being a mother, just doesn't want to put in the work of being a mother. It's been just me and my dad since I was born." Alexis wasn't sad anymore. Alexis was past the point of being angry or why wasn't she good enough part. Meredith was just some crazy lady that blew into town when it suited her and then blew back out again.

"I'm sorry." Kate offered not knowing what else to say.

"It's ok, I've adapted to her being gone. As sad as it sounds, I'm actually sorry now when she does make an unannounced appearance at our front door. All mom does is make everyone, …  
Does that sound bad of me?" Alexis looks at Kate.

"I don't know your mother, she doesn't sound like the motherly type and that's a shame. Every little girl should have a mother to grow up with. Teach her and tell her what to do." Kate offered, not trying to sound critical of Meredith with just the tid bit of information Alexis had provided.

"I was in grade school one time when mother showed up and took me out of school. She took me home and got me to tell her where my passport was and took me to Paris for lunch. I mean who does that?

Dad went ballistic when he found out. I could hear him downstairs yelling at mom for what she had done. I learned that day just how much my dad loved me and that I was just a toy to my mother.

Dad taught me everything; he's been my best friend since I was little. I can always count on him to tell me the truth, no matter how much that truth may hurt. Dad's been good, he's had a few things that have been hard on him, but he's really good." Alexis offers.

"Like puberty." Kate offers, feeling sad over how Alexis's mother had treated her.

That got Alexis to chuckle. "Yeah that one was quite the adventure. … Listening to my father trying to explain why I was bleeding and why that wasn't as scary a thing as it looked like, and how to handle it." Alexis was still smiling wide remembering that day.

"I'd already learned in school or from reading where babies came from, so when dad showed up to give me 'the talk', I think I told him more than even he knew. I don't think I've ever seen his face so red." Alexis was laughing now which got Kate to start laughing.

Yeah, Kate was impressed with Alexis all right. Now she just needed to figure out if Castle was as playboy as the papers wrote him out to be.

"I read where he has been married twice?" Kate decided now was as good a time as any.

"Gina." Alexis didn't say her name with love or caring in it. "I don't really know why dad married Gina, and she was still his publisher even after the divorce. As for why the divorce? … I think it was because dad finally figured out that Gina was all business and didn't have a clue what love was.

It was alright in the beginning and I tried to be nice to her, but it was like trying to be nice to a tiger with rabies tied up to a wall. You never knew just when that chain was going to break and the tiger was going to rip you to pieces.

Dad finally woke up from whatever dream world he saw himself in with Gina and they ended up divorced. If it wasn't for the pre-nup Gina would likely have taken dad to the cleaners." Alexis still didn't hate Gina, she just didn't think very much of her.

"Your dad used to be all over the papers, what happened?" Kate really wanted an answer to this one.

"Page six." Alexis stopped for a moment, likely deciding on how much to tell her. "The playboy image was Gina's idea. She would arrange for dad to go to these dinner functions or auctions or whatever. Gina would find some blonde airhead that would hang onto his arm all the way till they were inside, and then dad would leave her at the bar and not see her again until it was time to leave." Alexis wasn't sure she should go any further. "Gina made sure he was in the papers with her blonde airhead hanging all over dad and let them make up stories. I'm not sure why dad let Gina do that to him."

It did however give Kate a better picture of Castle and a large number of those negative markers she had placed under his picture fell away. "And he never came home with any of these women this Gina hand selected for him?" Kate asks only to watch Alexis shake her head. And a few more negative markers fell away.

They both remained silent for almost an hour. "We've got another 1-1/2 hours till we get there. A couple of seats in back can lay flat if you want to lie down." Alexis offers.

"Thanks, but I'm fine. … I've never sat in a cockpit before, … it's interesting. How do you know what all these things do?" Kate asks as she looks over all the switches and the 3 color screens that she has seen Alexis change to show different information on.

"It was a little daunting at first. Most of the buttons or toggles that you see are redundant for something else or are for the secondary systems that you only need to pay attention to when the primaries decide to leave you.

The trick is knowing what to bring up on the three color screens and when. You just push the correct button on the yoke and you can cycle through the options available to you." Alexis selects the screen in front of Kate and cycles through everything it could show till she is back to where she started.

"You want to try?" Alexis suddenly asks. "It's not hard and I'm right here."

"I don't think, …" This sounded like a bad idea to Kate.

"Place your feet on the paddles in front of you, just let them hover there without using any leg muscles, just let your feet feel that they are there." Alexis tells her.

Kate stretches her legs out, which actually felt good since she had them curled up under her in her attempt at avoiding the paddles Alexis now wanted her to touch.

"Just softly hold them there, let me do all the work. … Now place both hands on the yoke, just like mine. Don't grip it with a death grip, just wrap your fingers around it and hold it softly, gently." Alexis waits until Kate has been like that for a couple of minutes.

"Good now see the screen in front of you? Don't look at anything else but that screen. You can see what looks like a tiny airplane with wings. The idea is to keep those wings perfectly level just like the line that is shown behind them.

Now apply a little pressure to your hands so that you are holding the yoke in place. Not too much pressure on either hand, as even a pressure for both as you can. Think about driving a car and you want to go straight." Alexis actually had driven a car before. Rick had taken her out to an empty parking lot one time and had her drive around.

"You're doing great. …. And you're flying." Alexis tells her as Alexis lets go of the yoke on her side and holds her hands up to prove it.

"**ALEXIS!" **Kate's nerves shot into overdrive, getting Alexis to bring her hands back down and just barely touch the yoke, letting Kate apply all the pressure.

"Just watch that little airplane and keep the pressure on your hands steady. Don't push and don't pull and don't turn it." Alexis tells her and watches Kate start to relax as time went on.

"Congratulations captain Beckett, you've passed your first flying lesson. After this they only get harder." Alexis starts smiling as she takes the yoke back from Kate who has let go of it and retracted her legs again.

"I thought the saying was it only gets easier." Kate counters smiling at Alexis.

"It does right up to the point where your instructor starts throwing malfunctions at you. The engine is running too hot, the mixture is too rich so the engine is working too hard, the rudder is jammed, the main control systems are fried, you have an engine fire, you have an electrical short. … The list is endless." Alexis was still smiling, since she wanted to see if she could rattle Kate.

"I think I'll stick to being a captain of a precinct. Thanks for the lesson anyway." Kate gives Alexis a glimpse of a tiny smile.

Alexis was beginning to like Kate, she didn't panic, at least not easily. Kate had a gun on her hip which meant she knew how to use it. Alexis did however notice that Kate didn't smile much. Maybe that had something to do with her being a cop.

"Why police?" Alexis asks.

( I'm in trouble now! Just how much do I tell her?)

"I had a life altering event take place and decided that being a homicide detective was the way to go. … I started out as a rookie beat cop, working the streets. From there I was in vice for a little while." Kate was interrupted by Alexis.

"You mean like working as a prostitute?" Alexis turned to look at Kate.

"Pretend to be a prostitute yeah. I wore some of the sleaziest barely there clothes working that job. Met all kinds of men looking for sex. I learned a few things, like never wanting to do that job ever again." Kate gave Alexis another glimpse of a tiny smile.

"From there I did a short stint in robbery, but that wasn't what I wanted to do either. Finally an opening became available and Captain Montgomery offered me a chance and I jumped at it. Worked my way up from junior detective to lead detective of my team till I was lead detective of the entire precinct.

Captain Montgomery decided to retire and wanted me to take his place, so I took the captains test, passed it and applied for the job and got it. Then they sent me to this seminar in Jersey of all places, and well you know the rest. I haven't even spent a day at my new job and here I am flying farther and farther away from it." Kate reduces her long story into a short story.

"Montgomery? … As in Roy Montgomery? Has a wife named Evleyn with 2 girls, Montgomery?" Alexis asks watching Kate's mouth fall open.

"How do you know my captain?" Kate didn't know what to think. How did Alexis know anything about Roy.

"He bought dad's house out in the Hamptons. He spent millions buying it. Dad was actually glad to sell it to him since he had a family. His girls could go swimming in the heated pool or out in the ocean, play on the beach.

I didn't know a precinct captain made that much money." Alexis didn't understand.

"They don't." Kate commented and went silent while she thought that one over. $101,000 might sound like a lot, but it didn't go far in New York City where housing prices for closets were atrocious. Plus Roy was married with 2 little girls to pay for. The Hamptons was even worse, so yeah, how did Roy afford Castle's beach front home?

Kate was silent for the rest of the trip and Alexis let her think, while she thought her own thoughts. And most of those thoughts would have done her father proud as she started dreaming up all kinds of scenarios.

Not that Kate wasn't that far behind her, because she wasn't.

"And here we are." Alexis suddenly takes Kate out of her mind, getting Kate to stretch up and look out.

What she saw was a long stretch of islands, most of them kinda small.

"I'm going to do a couple of passes to look at the landing strip to make sure it's clear and then go around once so you can see both islands from the air." Alexis explains.

Kate watches as Alexis goes up and back on of the islands with the plane tilted down on Alexis's side and then Alexis goes all around the larger of the two islands giving Kate a good look at where she's going.

"The main house is in the middle of the big island and you can see the old U-boat slips that house our three boats at the moment." Alexis offers.

The main house looked to be all one story and the three boats looked to be three different boats with three different sizes.

"The big one is called Big Darby and the little one is called Little Darby. The little one is where the landing strip is located and it's also where all the tents are located along with the tents for the staff. … That we don't have.

If you look closely you can make out the aviation fuel tank, the two propane tanks and the two fuel tanks near the three boats. … You can also make out the windmills that provide some of our power. The reflection on the roof of the house are the solar power panels and the solar hot water panels.

The whole house is sitting on a giant cistern that collects rain water off of the roof. It's where we get all of our fresh water, routed through filters and a UV light. You can just barely make out the bridge that connects the two islands." Alexis tells Kate.

"What's the big tower just off of the house?" You couldn't miss it since it was so tall. It and the guide wires that held it in place.

"That's the tower for the ham radio system." Alexis explains. "Dad says that on a good day, you can get Moscow or Beijing. … I think he's hearing things, but who knows.

Here we go, better strap in tight." Alexis offers as she starts her check list for landing.

As Kate expected this was where things got bumpy, especially after Alexis put the gear down.

"You sure the runway is long enough?" It looked kinda short to Kate.

"It is going to be tight and we're likely to use up every last foot of it. … Relax I've done this several times already." As Alexis eased the plane down till Kate was sure the wheels MUST be skimming on the water.

Kate squeezed her eyes shut. They were going to land in the water, they were going to land in the water! Then the wheels hit land and Alexis pulled back on two big levers in the middle and shoved two more far forward and could feel Alexis applying the brakes.

"Push the top of the peddles with your feet, only the top. … Push." Alexis calls out, getting Kate to shove her feet forward and shove the palm of her feet into the top of the peddles on the floor.

Kate had no idea how much of the runway they had used up, but it felt like a lot. Still they were on it as Alexis adjusted the controls and turned the plane around and went back the way they had come until they had stopped and Alexis killed the engines.

"Sorry about that. … Not enough wind and I forgot to look at the wind flag. Rookie mistake." Alexis shakes her head that she could be that stupid. Still they had landed and were in one piece.

"Now we need to tie her to the ground and fill the tanks while we can. Then we can unload what we brought and turn on the house. Maybe even figure out what to have for lunch." Alexis offers, as she un-straps herself from her seat and gets up, with Kate right behind her.

Rick went and got the truck while Alexis started tying the plane to the ground. Kate pulled out her service weapon and started looking around. "Why are we tying it to the ground?" Kate asks as she moves from one side to the other.

"Hurricanes. … We don't want her going someplace on us. … What are you looking for?" Alexis watched as Kate was walking around with her weapon out and in both hands in front of her.

"Looking to see if those, … things, are around." Kate tells her never looking at Alexis. "We're going to need to search this place before we have lunch." Kate points out.

Alexis was beginning to be even gladder that Kate was here. It wasn't something she or likely her dad hadn't thought about doing.

Alexis had finished fueling the plane and Rick had moved the fuel truck away from the plane and came back. "We need to search your island first. I don't want those things we saw in Jersey sneaking up on us or rush us like they did." Kate informs them.

Rick went inside the plane and came back out with one of the duffel bags and dropped it on the ground to close up the plane. After zipping it open he pulled out a single hard shell case and handed it to Alexis while pulling out one of his own.

Kate watched as Alexis opened hers and pulled out a Sig Sauer 227R3-45-BSS semi-automatic along with three clips. Tossing the empty case on top of the bag, Alexis put two of the clips in her back pocket of the jeans she was wearing and slapped in the third and pulled the slide back and released the safety.

Alexis saw the look on Kate's face. "Dad forced me to take classes; he was on this zombie apocalypse binge at the time." Alexis shrugs her shoulders.

"HEY! … I think I was just proven right I'll have you know, thank you very much." Rick defended himself, getting Kate to suppress a smile. These two were turning out to be something. Just what that something was she didn't know, … yet.

"We go together, do not get separated and do not go anywhere alone." Kate points out and heads for what looked like the tent meant for the staff they said they didn't have. "We clear this island first before moving to the other one." Kate advises.

They were only about half way done with all of the tents. "CASTLE! Where do you think you are going? What part of 'We all go together' did you not understand?" Kate yells at him, disappointed in him, as she caught him headed for another tent, alone.

"All of it?" Rick offers weakly. "There's no one here, this is a waste of time, and I'm hungry." Rick moans.

"And you're willing to risk your life and the life of your daughter all because you are hungry? … Well I've got news mister, I'm hungry too, but I can't eat it if I'm dead because you got us all killed." Kate put some of her red marks that she had taken down back up again.

"Fine, we go together." Rick moans and lowers his weapon.

"And pick your weapon back up. It takes too long to lift it aim and fire accurately if you have it dangling at your legs. This isn't target practice where what your shooting at doesn't move." Kate chastises him again.

"Yes mother." And Rick lifts his gun back up and holds it with two hands like Kate and Alexis were doing.

"And if you call me mother again Castle I'll shoot you myself." Kate growls at him, picking up a few more of her red marks and pinning them to his picture in her head.

"He has the attention span of a nine year old." Kate grumbles out to Alexis.

"You get used to it." Alexis offers, since she has. But then she's had 16 years of practice.

"I can hear you, you know." Rick complains.

"GOOD!" Kate answers back, getting Alexis to smile. Maybe her dad had finally met someone he couldn't use his boyish charms on. Maybe Kate would force her dad to grow up, just a little. This might just be fun after all.


	6. Chapter 6

**CH6**

It is supposed to snow all day here today which for North Carolina is not a good thing. However the office has decided to buy pizza for everyone that was adventurous enough to drive into work today, which isn't many. And since I'm already half done with chapter 17 after last night and my beta reader is done with chapter 14, I feel like celebrating.

Lucky you, so don't say I never gave you anything. Enjoy!

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They were finally going into the house after searching the big island along with all three boats. Boats that Kate was in love with. She was definitely going out on at least one of these boats if not all three.

38 Statement "Cuddy" Powered by Triple Mercury 300 Verados, Custom Hard top,  
Custom colored Gelcoat hullsides,Garmin GPS plotter, Stereo CD player with Ipod/Bluetooth,  
Custom Sea dek flooring, Battery charger, Custom upholstery with "Mullinar" style stitching.  
Separate enclosed Head with shower in console.  
Forward Cuddy has 7 foot berth and custom cabinetry  
Twin stepped hull design gives 70+ mph Performance

41 Rampage was built to perform and born to thrive in rugged sea conditions; its stout construction and Carolina flare create optimal efficiency and performance. Her outstanding ride and incredible range will get you to your destination in contentment.

Viking 92 Convertible (also available in an enclosed bridge model), the largest sport fishing yacht built in Viking's history. Sure to be the queen of the fleet, this yacht raises the bar in sophistication and style. Her stunning profile includes many motor yacht cues, including dual mezzanine decks, one in the cockpit and one on the main level aft deck. The aft deck mezzanine includes rear facing, lounge seating along with a second seating area. The outside galley and grilling area provides for alfresco drinks and dining at a small, comfortable table. Her huge cockpit boasts a large mezzanine and a raised viewing area that leads to her center-lined salon door. The helm station affords superb visibility, ample seating, and plenty of rod and electronic stowage.

"I told you there was nothing here and now it's too late for lunch and I'm tired and hungry and we still have to unload the plane." Rick moans as he walks inside and heads for the sofa to fall onto only to moan again and pulls his weapon out of his pants as it dug into him.

"You're lucky you didn't shoot yourself Castle." Kate was still on his case and adding more black marks under his picture.

"Please, the safety was on. It's been on since we started. You didn't actually think I was going to accidentally discharge it did you?" Rick was hurt that Kate thought so little of him.

Kate took her black marks back down and kept her mouth shut. "Let's go Castle the sooner we unload the plane the sooner we can rest and the sooner we can figure out what there is to eat around here." Kate tells him since she wanted this trip over so she could rest.

"NOW CASTLE!" Kate yelled at the door leading outside. It got Castle up off the sofa with a groan. (Remind me why I saved her life?)

Castle was carrying 2 of the duffel bags, Alexis had one and Kate had one duffel bag and the single long hard sided case. "Castle what is in this thing?" Kate lifts the case up a little. Kate would come back later for her other bag and shotgun.

"That is my pride and joy that I found and bought, she's a beauty." Rick arched his eyebrows a couple of times.

**Thompson 1927A-1 "Tommy Gun"/30rd Mag/100rd Drum!**

"You bought a Tommy Gun?" Kate wasn't sure she heard right.

"The hand guns are Sig Sauer P227 and they shoot a .45 ACP round and I wanted to cut down on the number of different bullets I had to have for the weapons and a Tommy Gun shoots a .45 ACP so I only needed just the one type of ammunition." Rick defends himself, since Kate seemed to enjoy shooting him down constantly. Hoping she wasn't like this while running her precinct.

Kate thought about it and started smiling since it actually did make sense. "And what's in the bags?"

"Each bag has 40 boxes that each hold 50 rounds of ammunition for the SIG's and the Tommy Gun." Rick explains.

"That's, …. 8,000 rounds of ammunition!" Kate's eyes opened wide, after doing the math in her head.

"The case has a single 100 round drum in it and two of these bags have another 2 drums each, while the other two have another 5 clips for the SIG's in addition to the three that were in each case.

I never got around to loading any of the drums or clips beyond the three in each case." Rick explains.

Kate took a few of those gold star sticker and pinned them on the picture of Castle, Kate had of him in her mind. Kate would have liked to have seen a sniper rifle added, but it was too late now. Then Kate added a couple more gold stars to Castle's picture just for having the guns.

"Just the one Tommy Gun?" Kate was dying to fire this thing now, just once.

"It may be New York, but it was the only one that was local and I didn't have time to have another one shipped. We left to come here only a week after I bought it and all the ammunition.

I had to go to 5 different stores to buy up all the ammunition. I cleaned out 4 of them of every round they had." Rick knew he had gone to a lot of trouble, but he just knew he had to do it.

Kate knew her service weapon fired a 9mm round and she only had 2 spare clips on her with 2 boxes of 50 rounds in her bag, along with 25 rounds of shells for her shotgun. There was also some rope, flares, first-aid kit, cuffs and some misc. stuff that Kate hadn't cared about for a long time in it also.

Kate wasted no time in opening the case to look at the Tommy Gun once they got inside and Rick excused himself to go start dinner. "WOW!" Kate pulled it out and picked up the drum and worked out how to attach it and then pulled the bolt back. "WOW!"

Kate had it put away by the time Alexis came back after a trip to the bathroom. Kate traded places with her to use the bathroom.

"Come on I'll give you the tour." Alexis offers. "Bring your bag and we can find you a bedroom."

"The main building is broken into two different sections. The main section we're in is the residence while the other section is the business." Alexis opens the door between the two.

"The business side is small and only holds the office desk, the front desk to sign in and get your tent assignment, pick up brochures about what is offered, make reservations for deep sea fishing, rent jet skis or even rent one of the boats like the one you're in love with." Alexis points out getting Kate to look at Alexis.

"You were practically drooling over all three of them but you obviously liked one over the others. You're dying to see what it can do, which happens to be 70 plus by the way." Alexis explains, grinning at Kate.

"I didn't think it was that obvious." Kate started blushing and turned her head to look outside to hide it.

"There is also a half bath on this side for workers or guests if they need to." Alexis adds.

Back into the residence side. "Living, dining and kitchen all open to each other." Alexis explains and can see Castle working in the kitchen.

"There are four bedrooms, two share a jack and jill bathroom. Across the hall is a bedroom and the master bedroom with an on suite." Alexis shows her each room.

So far Kate was impressed by all of it. It was tasteful and each room was well appointed.

"Up this spiral stair case is the roof deck." Alexis takes her up to look. "You can see everything from up here."

Kate walked around finding chase lounges and a table with four chairs that had one of those umbrellas that was tied closed at the moment and several solar panels all on metal stands. There was piping leading to two of them telling Kate which ones were solar hot water.

"Down there is the outdoor cooking area and living and dining area, complete with hot tub and above ground pool, that are both empty at the moment." Kate looked over the side down onto all of it.

It looked like all rattan style furniture that all had cushions with them. The dining room table had a retractable cover as did the hot tub. There was a pergola over the living room portion with an outside BBQ grill complete with mini fridge and preparation surface.

"Down there is the outside access to the cistern that is under the building. That room also houses the filter equipment, tankless water heaters that run on propane, solar hot water tank, electrical panels and storage for filters and spare UV lights as well as all the pool cleaning stuff and chemicals.

Out there between the four Honeywell wind turbines that provide most of our power is the dog house holding the battery back-up. … The wind turbines spin to face whichever direction the wind is coming from. You can make them spin by practically blowing on them. They also keep the batteries charged." Alexis explains. "All the tie down wires are for if or when we have a hurricane."

"What's in that building?" Kate points to a different building.

"That houses one quad and one dirt bike and one electric powered golf cart. We were going to use that to get people between the plane or boat dock to the office and back down to the staff tents, where the guest would walk to their individual tent." Alexis explains. "It also has a small work shop to do repairs of fabricate parts. We are kinda on our own out here." Alexis points out.

Kate had heard the 'we were going to' part. These two had plans and it didn't include this. Not that Kate had ever thought of this happening either.

"Where's the radio?" Kate looks up at the monstrously tall radio tower.

"It's in the office downstairs." Alexis answers.

"They're not exactly tents." Kate points out, since when Alexis said tent she was expecting a tent meant for camping.

"No, not your typical camping tents. They're actually Yurts, like what they used in Genghis Kahn era. We're hoping they stand up to hurricane winds better and easier to fix if they are ripped or even blown away." Alexis explains.

"You seem to have everything and thought of everything." Kate points out.

"We hope so. … Right now our problem is meat and fresh vegetables with nothing in the freezers. We need to either go fishing tomorrow or go pig hunting." Alexis points out.

"I saw them while we were scouting the island, you do have a few of them." Kate points out. Kate had also seen a pair of buildings on the other island that were also made of concrete block like the main house. Kate had been told while they were there that they were the store and the shower facilities for the guests and staff.

"We didn't used to have that many, they've been breeding so we may need to go pig hunting just to reduce the population." Alexis points out.

"Fruit trees are all over the island, but mostly over there and the nut trees are all over there." Alexis points in a general direction.

"You said you had a greenhouse." Kate points out from her memory.

"It's kinda small and is on the other side of the garage for the quad and dirt bike." Alexis points.

"You want to unpack, we can go find you a swim suit or two down in the store next to one of the staff tents on the other island." Alexis offers and goes back downstairs behind Kate, closing the door behind her.

It didn't take Kate long to unpack her one and only bag that only had 4 days of clothes in it along with a few misc. items. Kate was groaning. She had so very little and was hundreds of miles away from home and didn't know when she would get to go back.

Kate finally emerged from the room she had chosen, which was one of the jack and jill bedrooms, finding out later that Alexis had already taken the other bedroom.

Kate found Alexis with Castle in the kitchen. "What's for dinner?" Kate was starving and wondered what Castle was making with empty freezers.

"Teriyaki glazed papaya steaks with cut up fruit. All freshly picked just moments ago." Rick answers her question. "We have no beef, no pork until we go hunting and no fish until we go fishing." Rick is forced to admit since he really did want some meat of some kind. This vegetarian stuff just wasn't him.

"It sounds fine Castle." Kate was hungry and more than willing to eat it.

"We can go down to the store and find you a bikini after dinner or a one piece if you prefer." Rick tells her.

"Trying awfully hard to get me into a swimsuit Castle." Kate teases, not that she didn't understand why, it was just Castle's motives that she questioned.

"You don't strike me as the skinny dipping type Beckett and you're going to find that it's too warm here most of the time to be wearing anything heavy during the day." Rick adds. Like what they were all still wearing at the moment and had been baking in while securing both islands.

"He is right captain Beckett, it's why each room has its own A/C unit. If it's too hot tonight even with the windows open you can turn your unit on tonight. The two in here will be on tomorrow." Alexis advises.

"Most definitely, I'm not baking sitting in here tomorrow." Rick points out. "Especially after spending tomorrow going pig hunting using the quad and then cooking him in a pit of hot coals."

"What are you going to do with all that meat after?" Kate was curious.

"We have two of those Foodsaver vacuum food saver kits along with several cases of bags." Alexis answers her question. "The pantries are through those two doors." Alexis points. "Have a look." Alexis didn't want to hide anything from her and she wanted to impress Kate.

Kate got up and walked over to one of the doors and turned on the light. **"WOW!"** Kate started walking around. There was case after case all stacked on industrial shelves like you would find in a Costco. It was even two cases deep!

Actually that's what Kate thought the room looked like, Costco. From floor to ceiling, nothing but boxes. It looked like all canned goods. Corn, green beans, tomatoes, sauces, peas and countless of others.

Kate moved to the other pantry. "WOW!" This room was just like the other room. It was just as big and was filled with boxes, except this time it was all dry goods. Flour, sugar, breakfast cereal, and countless other things.

Each room had the walls filled with boxes on shelving from floor to ceiling plus still more boxes in the middle of the room on shelving. Kate walked the circle of each room looking at only some of the boxes. Kate found an upright freezer in each room that really was completely empty when she opened them.

They were definitely not going to starve to death!

Kate came back outside and found Alexis and Castle smiling wide. "O-kay, color me impressed. … What about toilet paper and all those feminine products?" Kate asks.

"Mostly the attic space of the storage shed with the quad and dirt bike." Alexis answers her question.

"There is also some down in the store on the other island that guests could purchase." Rick answers that question.

"Along with boxes of potato chips, candy bars, peanuts, Gatorade bottles, beer and a multitude of other items." Alexis adds.

"There is no hard liquor for sale, just what is in the house. Boating and drinking don't mix and we didn't want to lose even a jet ski to some idiot who got himself drunk." Rick adds.

Kate remembers seeing the building but hadn't gone inside since the doors were all still locked with the storm shutters all pulled down and locked in place. "How does it get its power?" Kate asks.

"There is a single Honeywell windmill with battery back-up down there too." Alexis explains. "Along with another solar hot water system for the showers. All the water for everything comes from the giant cistern below us."

"You really have thought of everything. … Do I even want to know what all this cost you?" Kate asks and immediately is sorry she did since it was none of her business. "Forget I asked, I have a big mouth." Kate quickly adds.

"It's alright, I don't mind. … The Beechcraft was $5.5 million, the three boats were $2.3 million, the restoration of this house was $3.3 million, everything else combined was a few more million. The purchase of the islands was the most expensive part at $39 million." Rick tells her, getting Kate to sit back in her chair at the breakfast bar where she and Alexis were sitting.

"Dad sold everything. The land and buildings he owned in New York, the Ferrari, the loft. … Everything." Alexis adds knowing her dad was all in for this little adventure. It had actually amounted to a lot of money.

"My god Castle!? … Do you even have anything left?" Kate didn't see how after spending that much. He wasn't that rich, was he?

"I moved the rest of it to a bank in Nassau, plus there is roughly $130,000 in cold hard cash around here somewhere. I'm not broke yet. … Yet." Rick didn't know what was going to happen now.

Rick didn't even know what Alexis knew yet since Alexis hadn't had time to tell him about what she knew, like the nukes that Martha had told them about or the one the F/A-18 E pilot had warned them about.

"How did you get all of this out here? I mean this is an island that Alexis here told me was 300 miles from Miami." Kate asks, still amazed.

"Our plane brought some of it, the rest got here by boat. … Several boats actually." Rick started serving up dinner.

"The tents went up first as well as everything on that island. The workers all stayed in the tents for a week and were shipped back to the mainland for weekends. Took us three years to complete everything." Alexis points out.

Dinner was eaten mostly in silence as Kate was allowed to digest her food and everything she had been told and seen.

Playboy Castle wasn't a playboy and his daughter, that obviously lover her father very much, was amazing. Especially for a 16 year old!

Kate offered to help clean up but was shooed out of the kitchen while Alexis and Rick cleaned up from dinner. "Go turn on the TV and see if you can find something." Rick offers.

"You have TV out here?" Kate got another shock.

"Direct TV actually. … I know a guy who got me in for free. … Just don't arrest me captain." Rick smiled.

(Damn, he really is handsome and that smile could melt women, let alone what he might be capable of with those hands! … Mind out of the gutter Kate!)

Kate turned on the TV and started flipping through channels getting nothing, absolutely nothing. "Nothing, how are we supposed to find out what is going on?" Where they really that cut off from everyone?

"Dad and I have our phones plus there is the radio tower." Alexis counters.

Kate pulled out her phone and got a 'No signal' message. "You have a cell tower?" Kate didn't remember seeing one and Alexis didn't mention it on the tour.

"Dad's and mine's cell phones have a piggyback satellite attachment that turns our cell phones into satellite phones. Plus we have a real satellite phone in the office, the ham radio and the communication system in the plane. …. Oh and the ones on each boat that can talk to the unit in the office." Alexis hands Kate her cell phone.

"Call your friends see if their alright, and ask about grams please." Alexis all but begged Kate over the last part.

The cell phone Alexis gave her looked like any iPhone that she had seen except it had this fat black attachment on the back of it. Kate decided to call Espo after using her phone to look up the number. Kate was so used to using her contact list to call people so hadn't memorized anyone's actual number.

Kate left a message. "Went straight to voice mail." Kate tells them, so she looks up Ryan's number. "Straight to voice mail." Just where was everyone anyway?


	7. Chapter 7

**CH7**

Remember I do research! That means the islands they are all on are real. The plane is real, the boats are real, the quad, dirt bike, windmills and everything else, REAL.

If you want to see what they look like, just Google the description and it should get you what you are looking for. It worked for me.

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Kate was up, showered and changed the next morning, likely before Alexis since she hadn't heard anyone in the jack and jill bathroom that separated their two bedrooms.

Kate was completely dressed since that was all the clothes she had right down to her high heeled power boots. Stepping out into the living room and not seeing anyone so she headed for the kitchen.

Opening the refrigerator revealed only the left over fruit from last night, otherwise it was empty just like the freezers in the two pantry rooms. Kate saw the toaster but didn't see any bread to put into it.

"Maybe I will starve." Kate offers to herself.

Kate decided to go out back and get a closer look at what was out there that she had only seen from the roof earlier. It was already starting to get warm and the sun had only just come up. It looked like Castle was going to be right after all. She was going to bake in these clothes in this weather.

Still it gave her a chance to look around before it became too uncomfortable.

Kate checked out the outdoor kitchen find the grill to be kinda large for just two people. Still the house did have four bedrooms, so either one of Castle's ex-wives was coming or they had built space for guests.

The furniture looked nice as well as new, as did the empty hot tub and above ground pool, complete with a ladder to get in and out of it with.

Kate walked down to the storage building to look in there too, but found all the doors locked. Even the garage door was locked. Kate walked around the side and found the greenhouse. Alexis was right, it was small. You could fit maybe three people in it max.

The outhouse between the windmills was next as Kate looked up at the spinning and twisting to keep up with the wind directions minor fluctuations. Kate found the outhouse door locked too, so she moved on.

Walking around the house she couldn't help but notice that all of the windows had these round metal housing things above them. They were too high to reach so she couldn't check them out. There was even one above the glass door leading into the office area. Kate had seen the same thing down at the store.

Kate could make out the two buildings across the way on the other island. The staff tents, windmill, fuel tank, fuel truck and the plane. To her right were the 2 large propane tanks and she knew that a little further to her right was the gas tank and the three boats in the old U-boat docks that could easily hold another 3 boats of equal size.

It was quite the place Kate had to admit. If she was into camping out, scuba diving, snorkeling or deep sea fishing, this would be the place to come. "Three months." Kate wondered how people knew to come here. Likely well advertised somehow, were they going to get company? Perhaps someone who wanted to take it from them after all that was happening.

This got Kate to instinctively reach for her weapon, that she had left in her room. She was going to have to discuss with these two where to keep the five weapons that they had.

When Kate went back inside she found Alexis in the kitchen snacking on the fruit that was in the refrigerator while wearing a bikini with a wrap around her waist and wearing flip flops. "Good morning captain Beckett." Alexis smiles.

"Please Alexis, call me Kate. I'm a captain in New York and have no jurisdiction here, and good morning. It looks like it is going to get warm out today." Kate comments stealing a piece of fruit out of the bowl Alexis had.

"We should go down to the store before it gets too hot and find you a swim suit to wear. You are going to bake wearing all that." Alexis points at what Kate was wearing.

Kate steals another piece of fruit and Alexis puts it back in the refrigerator. "Come on, I'll grab the keys."

Alexis leads Kate down to the store on the other island and takes Kate inside and turns on the lights. "We have a small collection of men's, women's, girls and boys suits. Pick a couple that you like and the wraps are over there along with the flip flops." Alexis points.

The lone dressing room is through that door." Kate points to a door off the side.

To Kate the inside looked a lot like being inside a 7-eleven or some other convenience store. It had a little of everything with cooler doors down one wall with various cold items on display behind the doors.

Kate came back out of the dressing room wearing one of the bikini's that she had selected and picked up a wrap and tied it around her waist and dropped a pair of flip flops on the floor that were her size.

Kate dropped her clothes and a spare suit on the counter and went looking at the drinks that were available and selected a bottle of tea, turned around and grabbed a bag of beef jerky.

"Will that be cash or charge miss?" Alexis asks having moved behind the register and picked up the bar code scanner. It got Kate to stare at Alexis knowing she had left her ID, car keys for a car that she didn't have any more, along with all her money and credit cards in her room.

Then Alexis broke out laughing since she couldn't hold it in anymore and picked up some of Kate's clothes for her. "Not funny Alexis, so not funny."

"Perhaps, but the look on your face was priceless, I just wish I had my phone on me so I could have taken a picture." Alexis was still giggling.

They walked back to the main house side by side and Kate was beginning to feel the heat beat down on her. It had been a long time since she had been out in the sun wearing this little. "There is some sunscreen in the bathroom. I've been out here a few times but we're both going to need it unless we want to look like a fire engine." Alexis pointed out, still walking.

(Sixteen my ass! … Plus she's a mind reader)

Kate took a look at her white arms and bent her head down to look at her white body and thought about her exposed to the sun back and shoulders. Kate figured she was going to need a lot of sunscreen, a whole lot.

They were back inside and were just in time to watch Rick walk inside from the back patio area holding two bowls in his hands that one of which had eggs in them. Kate had seen the chicken coop that they were in but had walked right past it without giving it a second thought.

Kate took her clothes to her room and didn't miss Castle slamming into the coffee table since he wasn't watching where he was going and it got Kate to smirk over his reaction to her wearing a bikini.

Kate closed the door behind her and leaned her back up against it. Her favorite author had been wearing nothing but a swim suit with flip flops. It gave Kate the perfect view of his broad chest, shoulders and his arms and Kate squeezed her eyes closed to get the image out of her mind.

Kate layered on some sunscreen and went back outside to find Alexis helping her father in the kitchen. "So what's the plan?" Kate asks as she sits at the breakfast bar.

"Breakfast, omelets with onion and tomatoes from the greenhouse." Rick explains and turns to smile at Kate.

"Eyes up Castle." Kate wasn't mad, other men had done the same. Besides Kate knew her own eyes had been on Castle's ass till he turned around.

Rick jerked his head up. "Roger that." And turned back to what he was doing.

Kate watched Alexis kneel down and worked at doing something that Kate couldn't see. "You need some help Alexis?" Kate bent forward to try and see what Alexis was doing.

"I'm fine, just trying to get the first one out." Alexis explains and stands up and places a bread machine on the counter. "I was going to get this one started making bread for later and get the other started for making pasta sauce and we can make spaghetti and have garlic bread tonight." Alexis was smiling.

"You're going to make pasta sauce with a bread machine?" Kate looked at Alexis like she had lost her mind.

"Yup, and puddings, and soups, and pork or someday chicken chili. Even cheesecake." Alexis smiles at Kate as she starts to gather the ingredients some of which are in the pantry. "We have to use either powdered milk or condensed milk since we don't have fresh." Alexis admits as she holds up the box she had in hand.

"I tried to talk her into getting goats, but Alexis shot me down." Rick moans next to Alexis. "We could have had goat milk or goat cheese or lamb chops." Rick started his argument again, even if it was too late now.

"I let you get the pigs dad!" Alexis counters.

"Only because I promised her a true Hawaiian Luau." Rick whispers to Kate.

It had Kate shaking her head, these two were a real pair. Pair of what was what she was still working on, but at least they weren't serial killers.

Kate was finishing her breakfast listening to and watching the bread machines twisting away as the torque of the machines makes them shake on the counter.

"So what's the vote? Pig or fish?" Rick asks knowing he either went pig hunting or went fishing.

"Depends, which boat are you planning on using?" Kate asks knowing which boat she wanted to go out in.

"Probably the smaller of the two that has a chair on the stern deck." Rick tells her, since Kate likely didn't know them by names yet.

"Pig then." Kate was deflated.

"Captain, … Kate, … was hoping you would go out in 'Flash' dad." Alexis explains.

That got Rick to start smiling. "Maybe another day." Rick offers.

Kate trailed Rick out to the storage shed where the quad was located, watching his ass all the way. Where Rick stopped and unlocked the doors and swung them open allowing Kate to see what was inside.

Quad – Honda Four Trax Foreman Rubicon 4x4, 475cc that already had a trailer attached to the rear.

Kate was expecting one of those fast sport quads that were meant for play. Part of the playboy image she still had of Castle that just wouldn't go away. Then Kate watched Castle take something hanging off the wall that she wasn't expecting.

Cross bow – Barnett Vengeance Crossbow Package, Get a steady and accurate shot with the Barnett® Vengeance Crossbow Package. The crossbow features reverse-draw technology that reduces vibration and noise without sacrificing speed or accuracy. Its CarbonLite riser removes the weight from the front of the crossbow and shifts it the shoulder, giving you a better shot. The package includes a quick detach quiver, 3-20" arrows and a 3x32 illuminated scope.

"What is that for?" Kate's eyes were open wide.

"Pig hunting of course. The pigs around here aren't wild boars but their not exactly pet pigs either. I plan of using this so I don't have to dig bullets out of them when I gut them." Rick explains.

"You mean you've never done this before?" Kate now thought Castle was nuts.

"Everyone has to start somewhere Beckett, besides how hard can it be, they're just pigs. Not Jurassic Park Raptors or a T-Rex." Rick counters defending himself. "You and Alexis can get the pit ready while I'm gone. Alexis knows what to do." Rick assures her as he secures his bow and puts on his helmet.

"Wish me luck." Rick offers. Getting Kate to step back outside. "Good luck Castle." And watches Rick start it up with the press of a button after putting in the key, and watches him drive off.

Kate watched him travel for a little while before stepping into the building to look around.

The dirt bike was just off to one side of the quad.

Dirt Bike – Honda XR650L, 644cc single cylinder four-stroke.

Kate found another helmet likely meant for Alexis she was guessing. Next to that was a ships ladder that went up into the attic. After going up the stairs Kate saw box after box that said things like Gain, Snuggle, Always, Cascade, Bounty, Scott, Trojan, Febreeze, Colgate, Oral-B, Listerine and others.

"WOW, these two don't fool around." Kate talked to herself and went back downstairs.

Next came what looked like a work bench complete with a sink that had a mini water heater under it. Next came a few tools including a nice Miter Saw on a table along with one of those folding work benches Kate had seen in commercials.

There was a door on the end however Kate went back out the garage door and back to the house.

"Hows dad?" Alexis asks while sitting on the sofa with the TV on switching channels and not finding anything before finally turning it back off.

"I'm not sure who is in more danger of getting killed, Castle or the pig." Kate had to admit.

"Dad has grand plans sometimes and thinks just anyone can do it. He had the same thought when it came to shooting guns, till he found his first round of clips didn't even hit the paper target let alone the ten spot.

However several weeks and several hundreds of rounds later, with having to listen to him make excuses, he's actually a pretty good shot now. Even with that little toy you likely saw him take with him." Alexis tries to ease Kate's mind.

Listening to Alexis had Kate taking down the little black marks that she had just put up.

"He said something about a Luau pig pit." Kate offered.

"Oh yeah, we need to prep the pit." Getting Alexis to jump up. "Come on, you can help me." Alexis leads Kate over to the other island near the staff tents.

"We need some wood out of the pile you'll find under the tarp on the back wall of the store, while I get the coals." Alexis explains.

Kate was droping wood near the pit while watching Alexis drag two bags of Kingsford over to the pit and dump them in. "Lay half of the wood you have on the coals while I get two more bags." Alexis asks of Kate.

Two more bags, with wood on top and the fire. "Now we throw in these rocks that will absorb the heat." Alexis explains.

After they were done throwing in the rocks. "Now we need dad and his pig. First he guts it, then we place it in this wire cage here. Carefully place it on the fire, cover it with these tree palms that we get from our palm trees." Alexis explains, knowing that they didn't have that many palm trees.

"After that we shoveling the dirt onto the tree palms to hold the heat it and several hours after we come back and dig it out and have pig for our Luau. The left overs go in the freezer." Alexis explains the process.

"Using your food vacuum system." Kate was catching on. "Now what?"

"Get a drink out of the store and walk the island? We can check on the plane, make sure the tie downs are still secure." Alexis offers.

They were both soon at the plane testing all the tie downs while drinking. "Is this our only way off and back to civilization?" Not that Kate was worried about a hurricane coming along, still it was a concern.

"No, one of the boats has the range necessary to reach Miami if not Key West or even Cuba if we chose." Alexis knew they had options.

"The big one, the one with the bedroom and kitchen." Kate guesses.

"That's the one, Lady Martha." Alexis nods her head.

"You named it after your grandmother?" Kate was surprised and thought it was sweet.

"It was incentive to get grams to come out and stay for a few months each year. Grams loves New York and doesn't want to leave." Alexis explains.

"I'm sure she's fine, Espo and Ryan will pick her up and take her to the precinct. It's the safest place in the city." It was the long term that worried her. There were no beds or kitchen at the precinct. Captain Montgomery would think of something she was sure.

If it was her precinct, she would send out teams to gather needed supplies before gang looters got to all of it and work on locking down the precinct and the immediate area around it.

With no way in or out of Manhattan, it wasn't the infection that worried her. If this lasted long enough, desperate people would start doing stupid things and make things even harder on the officers.

Gather food from grocery stores and the multitude of restaurants, sleeping bags, appliances, weapons. Even try and consolidate families into a tight area making it easier to protect them, even if it was uncomfortable for everyone. The alternative was even worse.

"Where is, ..." Kate was interrupted by the sound of the quad approaching as the two of them were lounging soaking up some sun.

Rick pulled up next to a table and a utility sink that was on the side of the store and Alexis and Kate helped him unload the pig onto the table. "Be right back." Rick tells them and goes into the store and comes back out with a set of knives. "Now comes the fun part." Rick tells them.

Kate however could hear the sarcasm dripping over every word, and watched Rick start to gut the pig. With pig parts in the sink they helped Rick move the now ready pig over onto the wire mesh and closed it up and carefully placed it on the coals.

Next came the palm leaves and then digging. "What was the wood for?" Kate asks leaning on her shovel.

"Apple wood, it adds flavor to the meat and since it's all trapped under all of this, it has nowhere else to go but into the pig." Rick explains.

Rick headed for the pig parts and put them in a bucket. "What are you going to do with that?" Kate asks, having no intention of eating it, even if that weird go on Bizarre Foods on the Travel Chennel would eat. Kate wasn't!

"Back to the house and use the vacuum sealer and into the freezer. We can eat it later. Cut it into pieces and use the pieces to dip into something. … tasty." Rick did his best to keep his poker face.

Kate however looked like she was about to vomit, Alexis however soon started laughing since she wasn't her father. It soon had Rick grinning wide.

"I am so going to get you two for that." Kate points at them.

"It is going in the freezer however." Rick picks up his bucket and heads for the house, leaving Kate looking at Alexis for an explanation.

"Bait for shark fishing." Alexis explains and heads for the house.

"Shark fishing?" Kate whispers to herself. It didn't sound like bass or trout that she was used to, or even salmon for that matter.

Kate had to hustle a little to catch up with Alexis which gave Kate another opportunity to check out Castle's ass as he walked far enough out in front of her to take it all in.

(NO, NO. I've only been here one whole day. I'm not getting involved with some playboy ex-writer no matter how delicious he looks). Kate shook her head to clear her mind. Kate had lasted this long without needing or being involved with some guy, no matter what Lanie tried to get her to do. That's why she had made captain.

(Captain of a precinct that I'm not at.)

Alexis found one bread machine done and scooped out its contents into Tupperware and put it in the refrigerator. The other bread machine was allowing the bread to rise before the next cycle.

Kate helped Alexis clean out the bread machine and prepare it for its next use.

"Is there a way to find out what is happening out there?" Kate asks. These two had satellite phones after all, surely there was someone who knew what was going on.

"We can try the ham radio in the morning." Rick offers, pressing the button to vacuum out the air from a bag.

"Why morning?" Kate wanted answers.

"The best time to use it is at a sunrise or sunset. If we want to hear from someone outside of the States, we need to wait till sunrise." Rick explains.

Kate would take talking to anyone, but she did want to know just how far it had gotten. If the US military was dropping nukes, who else was? And was it really that bad?


	8. Chapter 8

**CH8**

Alexis had turned off the A/C units in the living room at bedtime. Something about power requirements. They had two different power units, however they each had limits and if they overloaded the system then they would end up draining the batteries and they didn't have any spares, even if they were rechargeable.

Kate had tried sleeping with just the windows open, but finally broke down and turned on the A/C unit in her bedroom. She did have to admit that the bed was very comfortable as well as the sheets.

Note to self – Ask where the washer and dryer was, or these sheets were going to get bad.

Kate turned off the A/C when she went into the shower. Stepping out Kate put on her other bikini that she had selected and wrapped the same wrap as yesterday around her waist and slipped on her flip flops.

It had Kate grinning thinking that as long as she stayed here, this was going to be her new wardrobe. She had spent the entire day yesterday in a swimsuit as had Alexis and Castle. It felt a little weird and Castle hadn't said anything and she had only caught him staring at her once.

Which was conflicting actually. Kate was happy that Castle had shown interest, but she wasn't used to being looked at like that. Her normal choice of clothing covered her completely. Now she was walking around half naked.

Kate was obviously up before everyone else again, so it was just her.

Last night had been GREAT! It was her very first Luau. Alexis had dragged her out of her chair and got her to do the hula with her, getting Kate to swing her hips while using her hands to make gestures that probably meant nothing, but it had been fun.

The pig was delicious, bread from the bread machine, pineapple from a can and green beans from a can and even Bush's beans from a can with BBQ sauce.

Tonight was going to be pork chili she was told or pork spaghetti using the sauce made using the bread machine.

Kate found the stuff for omelets in the refrigerator, so she started making one for herself.

"Morning Captain, …. Kate, how did you sleep?" Alexis sat down at one of the stools, dressed in a different bikini just like Kate was. Complete with the wrap from yesterday and flip flops.

"It was fine, I had to turn on the A/C unit to get to sleep. It was just too uncomfortable without it, even with the ceiling fan on. …. I turned it off and opened the windows before using the shower." Kate explains.

"You'll likely find that is the case most nights, unless a storm comes in at night." Alexis explains.

"You want one, there are three eggs left from yesterday, I'll split them with you." Kate offers.

"That would be nice, thanks. There are likely more already in the hen house. Though if we don't use them we can let them hatch into chicks and grow up so we can have chicken from time to time." Alexis explains.

"That might be a nice change after pork and fish day after day." Kate had to agree. "I can't begin to thank you for taking me with you. I'd probably be dead right now, or whatever those things were."

"I'm glad we could help, it's nice having someone else out here besides dad. As much as I love him, he can be a handful sometimes." Alexis knew her father had his moments that tested her.

"Are you sure you're 16?" Kate asks giving Alexis a quick look.

Kate was a little worried about bringing it up, however hearing Alexis start laughing took all her concerns away. "I get that a lot. Dad has questioned if I'm really his daughter several times. Between the two of us I'm the adult. It's a running joke.

But I love him. He's made my life, … amazing. It was just the two of us until grams moved in." Alexis explains, thinking back on her life with her dad.

"Castle's mother lives with you?" Kate was finishing and placing it on plates. "Is there juice?"

Alexis shakes her head. "We have to go pick it and squeeze it our self. The machine for that is down there." Alexis points.

"Water it is then." Kate grabs two glasses and gets water from the sink that had one of those Brita things attached to it.

"Sorry, we're just not ready to be open yet and all the drinks are down in the store, not up here." Alexis points out. "We can fix that later today." Alexis offers.

"Your grandmother?" Kate asks getting back on topic.

"Grams has been married twice too. I'm kinda hoping to avoid that curse. … Grams last husband cleaned out their bank account and left her, so she moved in with us.

Dad teases her about living with us, but I think he actually loves having her there. Grams knows how to put dad in his place, which gets on dad's nerves, but she means well." Alexis was smiling, since she could hear some of their banter in her mind.

"Where does she live if Castle sold everything?" Kate was hoping Castle hadn't kicked her to the street.

"Grams has an acting studio where she teaches a small number of young actors all she knows. It has a small one bedroom apartment above it. .. Grams doesn't charge nearly as much as the big studios do. Grams says she wants students who really want to learn but can't afford the big places." Alexis explains.

"Sounds like my mother. She only wanted to help people that couldn't afford the big lawyer companies. She liked to fight for the little guy that got stepped on." Kate explains, thinking back to long ago.

"Your mother is a lawyer?" Alexis asks, wondering where she was when Kate only called her dad.

"Was a lawyer, she died when I was 19." It was still a soft point for Kate. She had solved many cases, just not her mothers.

"I'm sorry, I know what it means to not have a mother. One that loves you, cares what happens to you, shows up for Christmas, attends school specials." Alexis didn't hate her mother, just didn't love her either. Hard to love someone who isn't there for you.

Kate put her fork down and reached for Alexis's hand. "I'm sure your mother loves you." Only to watch Alexis shake her head.

"My mother loves herself and her life. It took me a long time and a lot of help from dad to get over my mother. … Why doesn't my mother love me? Why doesn't my mother come see me? Why doesn't she come see me when she promises that she will? What did I do that made my mother hate me? Why am I not good enough?" Alexis could see tears forming in Kate's eyes, even if Alexis had none.

"Dad helped a lot. I sometimes wonder if that was why he married Gina. I just thought it wasn't any of my business why. It's just that it didn't look like dad loved her. I don't think Gina wanted to be anyone's mother any more than my real mother does." Alexis offers up some history of their family.

It did however get Kate to move around the counter and hug Alexis. "I'm sorry Alexis. I'm so sorry." Kate knew she had 19 years with her mother and losing her mother broke her deeply, but at least she had a mother. It was more than Alexis has had.

"Everything alright out here?" Rick comes out finding the two women hugging each other.

"We're fine dad, we were just discussing mom." Alexis explains.

That got Rick to hug his daughter and kiss her head after Kate moved back to finish her breakfast. "Don't worry about your mother pumpkin, I'm sure she's fine." Rick mistakes what they are talking about, however neither of them correct him.

"You wanted to try the radio." Rick offers willing to wait for breakfast, besides it was likely he was going to have to go get his own eggs.

"YES!" Rick had Kate's attention now.

They had all moved into the business section of the building with Rick sitting at the desk and start working the controls.

"This is C6A-227853 calling any station." Rick talks into the mic. Only to repeat it three more times.

"This is ALO-7-2229 responding. Where are you?" A voice comes over the speaker.

"C6A is Bahamas." Rick answers back.

"ALO is Alaska, it's good to hear there is someone out there." Come back over the speaker.

"I'm Rick." Rick offers his first name.

"Andy, heard anything on your side?" Andy asks.

Alexis leans down to press the button. "We've heard the US military dropped nukes on the Mexican border and one on the east coast." Alexis tells him and Rick. Which got Rick to open his mouth wide and stare at his daughter.

"I'm not surprised, I've been talking to radio operators in Japan for weeks now, ever since it started in South Korea. Japan closed their borders long ago. Last I heard from them, they were still clear of the infection.

It swept into North Korea and then into China easily and then traveled through Russia like a wave headed for Europe.

Speculation in Japan is that it found its way across to South America via plane and then up through Mexico." And explains.

"The US military probably tried stopping it at the border." Kate speculated.

"And failed." Alexis points out since it had made it to New York somehow.

"Heard from anyone else?" Rick asks.

"Until you, just Japan. I've heard from them that they in turn have heard from those that have in turn heard from England, who is like Japan. Likely anyone on an island is presently safe like you." Andy was guessing from hearing about England and now Rick.

"That might explain why Manhattan hasn't been affected. They blew up all access before it got that far." Kate offers.

"There are a lot of islands on the east coast, from Canada to Florida." Rick points out. "Maybe a different channel would get us Key West. They're not that far." Rick offers.

"How is it in Alaska?" Rick asks.

"Kotzebue is the largest city in the Northwest Arctic Borough, so we're pretty isolated up here. From what I know most of Alaska and northern Canada are still in the clear as is the northeast area of Russia.

It sounds like the bigger the city is the harder it has been hit." Andy offers.

"We're going to try for someone else next. We'll check back weekly if that works for you?" Rick offers.

"That'll be fine. Stay safe out there. ALO-7-2229 is clear." Andy was gone.

" C6A-227853 is clear." Rick signs off.

Rick tried a few channels but got nothing. "We can try again at sunset." Rick offers.

It gave Kate a few moments to look at the system that was taking up part of the wall in the already small office.

Four transceivers, amplifiers, and a computer for logging and for digital modes. There was a desk top and a laptop computer, along with a printer and scanner/copier. There were two monitors that had displayed Andy's voice in a graph that Kate had been able to follow.

There were speakers that his voice had come out of, along with a number of smaller boxes that had dials that Kate had no clue what they did.

**Yaesu FT****DX****5000, ****Kenwood TS-2000, Icom IC-9100, Icom IC-756PROIII 756 Pro3**

**(2) RM Italy KL 7505V Linear Amplifier With Fans, (2) RM HLA-300V PLUS**

Kate also saw 6 of these little things that reminded her of a big bulky cell phone. VERTEX STANDARD VX-427-4-5.

It looked like a mess to Kate, but it did help her understand why they had just been talking to someone in Northern Alaska. That and that monstrosity of a tower just outside.

It did tell Kate that if they were dropping nukes, it must really be bad let alone dangerous as hell.

Kate watched Castle go out the side door with Alexis not following. Alexis was just standing at the back patio door leading out onto the patio. "Where's Castle going?" Kate was curious. She was used to being in charge and wanted to know everything.

"He's going to go check the water level in our cistern. If we have enough water he's thinking of filling the pool. It takes a lot of water so we need to be careful." Alexis explains.

30 ft x 15 ft Oval 52" Deep Contempra Pool w/Liner.

"If not than maybe the hot tub instead, we could use either tonight since it will take time to fill either of them." Alexis adds.

Castle was back a few minutes later and by the look on his face it wasn't good news. "How low dad?" Alexis asks him and gets his answer. "My god dad, that means it hasn't rained here in months."

"Water conservation?" Kate asks, meaning no laundry, fewer showers, save the water for the greenhouse.

"Not just yet maybe, but if it doesn't rain in the next few weeks." Rick shrugged his shoulders. The cistern was huge and really deep, so for it to be this empty wasn't good news.

To keep from drinking water they moved some of the cold beverages from the store up to the house. No pool and no hot tub had left Alexis going out to the greenhouse to make sure everything got watered. Leaving Kate inside the house with the A/C units running now searching the surprisingly impressive cabinet filled with DVD movies to watch.

Kate was half way through her movie when she noticed that she was still all alone. No one had joined her. Was it her movie choice?

Kate was up and searching the house and outside of it. Not finding anyone had her curious so she walked over to the other island and found both of them in the store. "What are you doing?"

"Inventory, if we're not going to get any more we need an accurate number of what we've got. We're just checking our count off of the sheets that we have from what we ordered and received earlier. We're actually almost done." Alexis explains.

Kate grabbed another cold bottle of tea, grinning that this would throw off their count and went back to the house to finish her movie.

Kate watched Castle enter the house and walk past her and out the back patio door, with her head turning watching every move he made.

(Mind out of the gutter Kate) Getting Kate to shake her head. It's just that she didn't have her job to keep her distracted. She had spent her life being a homicide cop and now she was just a bump on the log. It was something she needed to fix.

Kate found Alexis. "Do you have a yoga mat or something similar?" Kate had a plan.

Alexis shook her head. "Sorry. … We have a roll of fake grass that we haven't put out on the back patio yet. Would that work?" Alexis offered hopeful.

So long as Kate didn't slip on it, it might do the job. "I can give it a try." Kate was willing to at least try it.

"You can help me move it from storage and roll it out." Alexis offers.

It wasn't all that heavy, it was just big and bulky and they had it rolled out on the back patio in no time.

"Now we need a bag of sand and a rake." Alexis explains.

Kate was raking as Alexis spread out the sand. "Why are we adding sand?"

"It's meant to help keep the fake grass to standing up straight instead of laying down flat, plus it softens the feel of the grass on your feet or hands or, ..." Alexis trails off since she was headed for body parts that could get uncomfortable talking about. It did however get Kate to have a quick grin.

"There, enjoy Kate." Alexis offers and takes the rake back to the storage building.

When Alexis was back she found Kate out of her wrap and was working on warming up doing some stretching. "Can you teach me?" Alexis asks softly, not wanting to interfere in a personal thing.

"Sure, come on over and do what I do. I'll take it easy on you since this is your first time. … You need to stretch to get your muscles involved and not seize up on you later." Kate runs Alexis through a few routines before starting something more strenuous.

Rick was in the kitchen working on lunch plus using some cut up fruit and other ingredients and putting them in the bread machine to make jam with, since they had a couple of cases of peanut butter.

Rick was slicing while watching Kate and his daughter doing he didn't know what out on the back patio. He was doing fine until Kate started bending way over, watching his daughter trying to keep up.

"OWE! … Damn it!" Rick stuck his injured finger in his mouth. Rick just knew he wasn't going to survive living here with Kate doing things like that where he could watch. Plus being dressed in those sexy bikini's all day long. All of that exposed skin was already eating away at him.

"I'm a dead man." Rick was sure of it as he looked at his bleeding finger and stuck it back in his mouth again before reaching for a paper towel and wash off his finger and then heading for the bathroom in search of a band-aid.

"Lunch is ready ladies." Rick calls out through the open patio door just in time to watch Kate lift up from bending way over giving him a perfect view down her bikini top, getting Rick to close his eyes and moan. She really was trying to kill him.

"Thanks dad." Alexis offers, while Kate could see Rick squeeze his eyes closed and take in her present position and what that meant Castle could see down her top considering what she was wearing. It did however get Kate to grin. Maybe being here with nothing to do was going to be fun after all, since she could torture Castle.

Kate and Alexis were sitting at the breakfast bar still sweating from their short workout, and enjoying the cool air that the two A/C units were pumping out, while they watched Castle serve them all lunch. Rick was standing in the kitchen eating his while Kate was stealing glances at Castle, noting that Castle had his eyes on her.

She had his attention alright, very much so. Yup teasing Castle was going to be fun since it was proving to be incredibly easy. "I'm going to go get cleaned up a little." Kate tells them and heads for the jack and jill bathroom.

Water was short so she simply got a wash cloth wet and wiped herself down and put on a different bikini and put her wrap back around her waist.

"What?" Rick asks looking at his daughter.

"I didn't say a word dad." Alexis counters, however she was still smiling at her father. Alexis hadn't not noticed that her dad hadn't taken his eyes off of Kate the entire time.

Kate wasn't doing anything and yet she had her dad's attention. Undivided attention actually. Maybe having Kate here really would be good for them both.

Kate stopped and looked at herself in the mirror, what looked back at her was a woman that she hardly recognized. She didn't live her life in a bikini and yet around here it was the only thing that was remotely comfortable to be wearing.

She wasn't a homicide detective anymore and it left her wondering when or if she ever would be again.

What had happened in the last few days had derailed all her well thought out plans. It was a nice place, it just wasn't New York and while it was an island, still it was the wrong one.

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Any guesses on what 227853 means? Yes there is something there. Think about it.


	9. Chapter 9

**CH9**

**It is now one month later:**

227853 spells CASTLE using the numbers on your phone. Snowman1701 was the first to send the correct answer. Everyone give a hand to Snowman1701!

No i don't mean cut yours off and mail it to him. I in no way suggested such a thing.

Are you reading this NSA? I suggested no such thing.

ISIS, there I'll bet your reading it now.

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Kate was with Castle out on what had become the main fishing boat. They were a little ways out with Castle going just fast enough to mimic being a fish, a fish in distress to more precise. They were shark fishing.

Castle was way up high piloting from where he could see everything while Kate was down on the deck strapped into the chair with a really large fishing pole in its holder between her legs.

Kate had argued that she didn't know anything about fishing, except for the lake fishing that her dad had taught her, and she also had no skill at driving a boat. Sooo, here she was sitting in the chair waiting to put her muscles to use, if they got something.

They had already dumped free food and blood over the side from the pig that they were still nursing taking parts and pieces out of the freezer, however it was time for a change. Some of the eggs had hatched into little chicks and their chicken coop was getting fuller, but having chicken was out for at least several more weeks while the chicks grew up.

Kate was just sitting there staring out into the ocean while keeping an eye on her rod and reel.

They had talked with Andy in Alaska every week so far this month, and so far nothing much had changed. Japan was still clean as was every island he had heard about. With Andy's help they had even talked with a ham radio operator in England themselves who told them the same thing.

They also had a lot of people who had escaped Europe by boat living in the British Isles in large tent cities set up by the government.

The British Navy and Air Force were constantly patrolling the channel looking for survivors or ready to blow anyone infected out of the water.

They had learned that the military had done it's best to turn peninsula's into islands to protect the locals and if you already were an island you were likely safe from infection. Now they just had to worry about food and other necessities.

The military's of the world were actually talking to each other for a change and working on plans on how to rescue anyone on the mainland and get them onto an island, or get them further north where it was cold and the infected didn't go.

Kate had also been talking with Montgomery and her father weekly so far. Roy had turned the precinct into a safe haven, complete with lots of food taken from grocery stores and restaurants. Sleeping bags and camping equipment from sporting goods stores. Appliances to store the food from other stores.

They even had a home heating oil truck along with two tankers filled with gasoline.

They had created heavily armed patrols along with convoys of police cruisers to help keep the peace.

The precinct was practically bursting at the seams with people. It was more than just her father and Martha that had been taken in. There were whole families living behind its walls now. Roy had even raided a couple of gun stores and cleaned them out before the gangs got to them. The less the gangs had the better it would be for them.

Sand bags on the roof with with look outs and snipers up there watching for anything.

Kate had even learned that one of the other precincts had cleared out of their old building and had fortified the local hospital and had done what Roy had done and then some.

Entrances were blocked by cars that didn't have tires anymore. Their gas tanks and all be sucked dry of fuel and stored for the hospitals emergency generator. Hearing that had gotten Roy to bring in those little Honda generators and get them spread out on all the floors for if or when the power went out.

The hospital parking lot had lots of cars and they were all searched and sucked dry over the last month.

And Kate was missing all of this. This was her job, or at least it used to be.

Kate was still full of self pity about running away with the Castle's. She was a cop damn it, not a survivalist. Not that the Castle's were either so much. Castle's idea of starting up his company just simply had good timing, and his natural paranoia was the reason they had weapons.

Their second day here they had spent as much time as it took to load all of the clips with ammunition, including the five 100 round drums for the Tommy Gun. A gun Kate was still itching to fire. They may have 8,000 rounds of ammunition, its just they didn't know if or when they would ever get more, so Kate refrained herself.

Even out here Kate had her service weapon and Rick had his SIG, along with a couple of spare clips. Better safe than sorry.

Kate was still going over her last conversation with her father in her mind when the fishing rod started screaming at her. "We got something!" Kate yelled out and grabbed the pole and let the line play out a little till she was sure whatever it was they had was fully hooked. Only then did she start the laborious task of reeling in whatever it was.

Castle was doing what he could to maneuver the boat to prevent whatever it was from getting under them and help Kate reel it in.

It turned out that Kate's yoga sessions had come in handy, she was standing next to Castle sweating and breathing heavy while they looked down at their catch at the stern of the boat, after it had finally stopped thrashing around.

"Tiger shark I think." Castle offers up. It was actually not a bad size one either.

"You can really cook and eat this thing?" Kate stared at him, still not convinced.

"Honestly?" Castle asks looking at Kate stare at him. "I've never gone shark fishing before or cooked one of even gutted one." Castle tried on his best 'please don't shoot me' face, since Kate had threatened countless time that she was going to do just that one of these days.

"So what do we do with it?" Kate really was ready to shoot him. It had taken her a lot of time to reel this damn thing in and she knew she was going to pay for it with sore muscles later. And here was Castle telling her he didn't know what to do with it.

"I said I'd never done it before, not that I didn't have a video on my laptop on how to gut it or cook books telling me how to cook it. …. We'll be fine. Trust me." Castle was smiling. There was a shark in his boat and they had caught it. How cool was that?

Castle was tying the boat to the dock as Kate watched Alexis jog down to greet them. It had Kate smiling, she really was an amazing young woman. It made Kate even more proud of her after all Alexis had been through growing up without a mother.

Castle, Kate was learning was the exact opposite of her. "What'd you catch?" Alexis was smiling. Thinking they had surely caught something.

"Castle thinks its a tiger shark." Kate pointed out the shark that was already out of the cooler that was built into the boat and ready to be picked up.

They had left the quad with the trailer attached on the dock so they could get it over to the storage building where Castle was going to gut it, before slicing it into pieces and then into bags using the vacuum system before going into the freezer.

The three of them had their catch into the trailer with Castle driving it up to the storage building while Kate and Alexis went into the house to get the two vacuum bag systems ready.

"Ever had shark before?" Kate asks, hoping these two knew it was tasty, only to watch Alexis shake her head.

Great they were all about to be guinea pigs. Marvelous!

"Oh there is one more thing we need to do before we can package and freeze it." Alexis points out and it has Kate following Alexis out to the storage building.

Alexis grabs a large round tub that Kate thought looked like a kiddie pool and helped her get it over to Castle and filled it with water. "What's this for?" Kate asks.

"We need to soak the shark pieces for a few hours first, since sharks pee through their skin." Alexis points out with Kate watching Castle grinning wide.

Kate didn't say a thing, however her idea of eating shark just took a major hit.

Still Kate helped Alexis put steaks in bags, vacuum out all the air and move them into the freezer. Kate also watched Castle place three steaks into a container to marinate them and place them into the refrigerator. That was followed by watching Castle chop three of the steaks into little pieces and place them on skewers along with some vegetables that had come from their little greenhouse.

Kate had already helped them move all of the vegetables that were ripe from the greenhouse and into the freezer for later.

Kate and Alexis were lounging later in the day drinking one of the cold drinks they had brought up from the store and were watching Castle cook their shark kabobs on the grill.

They were finally sitting at the outdoor table feeling the wind starting to kick up as Kate cut her shark piece into a smaller piece and took a deep breath, before placing it in her mouth. All set to make a nasty face and spit it out and start yelling at Castle.

Instead Kate opened her eyes wide. It was a touch chewy, but not overly so, and while it was an overly used cliché, it tasted a lot like chicken. Just not soft mouth watering chicken. "You get to live Castle." Kate tells him as she finishes off her dinner.

However they were soon picking up everything and running inside when it started raining.

It was an hour later as all three of them were standing at the open back patio door having turned off the A/C units and watching it continue to rain, feeling the breeze blowing through the house.

"Hurricane?" Kate asks, watching the wind blow as it rains heavily.

"Not yet, doesn't mean there isn't one out there though. Let's hope it doesn't decide to pass all that close to us." Castle offers a silent prayer.

"Where are you going Castle?" Kate watches Castle walk outside into the rain.

"It's been a long time since I've had fun dancing outside in the rain." Castle offers as he starts spinning round shuffling his feet in the mini pools of water that were forming on the back patio. "Come on Beckett, let your hair down, have some fun."

Beckett was sure she wasn't going out there and making a fool of herself, it also brought to mind that she hadn't had her hair cut in a little over a month now and it was getting longer.

A soaking wet Castle wearing only a long leg swimsuit had all of Kate's attention, watching the water cascade off of his body, only to suddenly watch Castle coming at her with a determined look on his face.

"Come on Beckett, pretend your young again. Didn't you go down the street stomping your feet in all the water puddles you came across." And Castle had a hold of one of her hands with one of his and Alexis's hand in his other and was using his strength, bulk and weight to pull both of them outside and into the rain.

It only took a few minutes for Alexis to be running around in the rain, cooling off with her head held back, mouth open wide and her tongue out catching the rain.

Kate however was standing there with Castle still holding her hand, wishing she could get out of the rain and back inside where it was dry.

Kate soon however found Castle had let go of her allowing her to make a run for the inside again so she could search for a towel, when suddenly a massive amount of water hit her in the back.

Kate twisted round to see Castle standing there grinning wide holding a bucket that was likely empty now. "CASTLE! … WHAT THE HELL!" If Kate had her gun on her she would shoot him.

"You're wet Kate, have a little fun." Castle took the bucket that had a little water in it again and launched it at Kate.

It was an hour later and a seriously laughing Kate, along with a happy Alexis and Castle were stepping back inside the house and headed for a bathroom in search of towels to dry off with.

Kate was standing in her bedroom with a towel around her as she used another to dry her long hair as she looked at the smiling person that was in her mirror, not recognizing the person that was in it.

Who was she and what had she done with the Kate Beckett that she knew?

Kate literally bumped into Alexis as she exited her bedroom. They had both changed into a different bikini and had a different wrap around their waists. "Sorry." Kate offers an apology and both of them head into the living room.

Kate was standing at the back patio door watching it still raining heavy with a little wind while Alexis was searching the DVD cabinet for a movie to watch.

Alexis however was stealing glances at Kate. It had taken work but the steely looking Kate still had a big smile on her face when Alexis had bumped into her outside Kate's bedroom. It looked good on her. Alexis knew she had a serious job and it had Alexis wondering just when was the last time Kate had, had any fun.

They had a volleyball net, a basketball hoop down next to the store along with a couple of soccer balls. Even a badminton set around here somewhere. They even had a few board games that they could try.

Rick caught Alexis staring at Kate deep in thought when he suddenly showed up next to her to help pick out a movie to watch.

Rick ended up on one end of the sofa, Kate on the other end and Alexis in the middle who was holding the bowl of popcorn. It was microwave popcorn compliments of one of the many boxes in the pantry, so the entire house smelled of popcorn.

Kate was minding her own business taking a handful of popcorn and eating one at a time from her hand when a popcorn kernel showed up suddenly in her lap. Kate simply figured she had dropped it, so picked it up and popped it in her mouth.

Only to have several more show up one after the other. "CASTLE!" Kate warned him, only to have another kernel show up moments later. "Cut it out Castle."

"You're not armed at the moment Beckett." Castle counters, only to have a handful of popcorn show up in his lap part of which went right back at Beckett.

Alexis meanwhile just sat there eating popcorn and ignored these two.

The movie was over and the popcorn bowl was empty and Alexis got up to retrieve the DVD to put it away before going to her room. "You two are cleaning up your mess on your own. … Night dad." Alexis hugs and kisses her father. "Night Kate." Alexis simply waves at Kate.

"Good night Alexis." Kate answers back.

"Clean up your mess Castle. … Where are you going!?" Kate watched him walk away. If he was leaving her behind to clean up all the popcorn that was lying around he was going to be sadly mistaken.

However Castle was soon back with one of those mini dust busters, turned it on and had his side clean of popcorn kernels in seconds. Castle just smiled and walked away again, leaving Kate to pick up her side by hand.

"He's going to pay for that." Kate mumbled to herself while she took her kernels to the trash can.

Castle was still grinning when they ended up meeting at the hallway leading to the bedrooms. Kate however glared at him and went into her room without talking to him. "Night Beckett." Castle offers at his door.

Kate slipped into the one and only sleep shirt that she had. She had so little here. Everything was theirs and she was using it. Kate was happy to go fishing, because it meant she was contributing something. If she couldn't be a homicide detective, she would be something else.

Kate went to sleep listening to it rain and woke in the morning listening to it rain. Kate was up and looking out the window. The sun wasn't up just yet and maybe it never would since it was still raining hard.

Kate was in the bathroom washing herself off using a washcloth with there was a knock on the door leading to Alexis's room. "I'll be out in a moment." Kate yells out.

"Take a shower if you want Kate, it's rained all night and looks like it's going to rain all day, so we have the water." Alexis counters.

That had Kate stepping out of the shower feeling clean with her hair clean too for a change. She felt so much better now. Kate tapped on a brief amount of make-up because she only had what she had brought with her and talking with Alexis she had very little too.

Kate was out of the bathroom as quickly as possible to give Alexis a chance to use it. Slipping on one of her now three bikini's to chose from, a wrap around her waist and her flip flops and she was ready to greet the day. It was raining so she got to skip lathering on a thick layer of sunscreen everywhere.

Stepping into the living Kate got another surprise, Castle was in the kitchen cooking. He was never up this early. "Castle?" Kate greeted him while sitting at the breakfast bar.

"Morning Beckett." Rick offers. "Like some breakfast?" Castle had noticed that Kate didn't always eat breakfast.

"Yes please, thanks." Kate watched him work. The chicks were growing up fast. It was coming up on 5 weeks and they were fast approaching the size of their parents. A few weeks from now and they might be able to have chicken instead of pork and shark. And likely have even more eggs to work with.

They were trapped indoors all day since it never did stop raining and they were on their third movie of the day and Kate had given up doing nothing and was asleep while leaning up against Alexis.

Alexis for her part was chuckling internally that Kate couldn't stay awake. Even if she did have to admit it was a boring day, listening to it rain. "Maybe we should put her to bed dad." Alexis offers.

Rick moved the coffee table first so he could move in and pick Kate up. With a little help from Alexis Rick had Kate in his arms who quickly Hummmed and leaned her head into Rick and even snuggled her head into his neck.

Rick felt Kate reach up to hold onto him as he lowered her down onto her bed forcing Rick to remove the grip she had on him. Getting Rick to wish he could just lay down onto the bed with her, however he knew she would hurt him when she woke up, plus how would he explain it to his daughter.

It did however allow Rick to look down on her as she twisted and grabbed a pillow to hang onto instead. She really was a truly beautiful woman and he was learning more about her the longer she stayed here.

He was still standing there staring at her when Alexis cleared her throat, getting Rick to jump out of his skin having been caught staring at Kate.

Alexis was grinning wide while following her dad back out into the living room.

They were both standing at the back patio door looking out into the darkness listening to it rain. They still had all the doors and windows open allowing a breeze to flow through.

"I hope it keeps raining dad, we could use the water." Alexis comments having gone down to look for herself. This storm was actually a good thing, even if it was annoying and keeping them trapped inside.

"We're going to need to inspect all of the tents if it keeps raining much longer after it finally stops." Rick had never seen the island after getting this much rain, let alone if it kept raining.

And check the plane, Alexis added to herself. One of the boats could reach Key West or even Miami, however travel by plane would be better. They just needed a runway to land on, free of infected naturally.

"I'm going to bed pumpkin, don't stay up too late." Rick hugged Alexis and kissed her head and walked for his bedroom. "And peek in on Beckett before you do." Rick adds over his shoulder.

Alexis remained to stare out into the dark and listened to it rain. It had been a whole month and she had gotten to talk with Martha each week that they phoned into the precinct, however she was missing her old life. Having the world turned upside down on her life.

Was there even a college for her to attend anymore? What choices did she have now?

Alexis shuffled her feet to her bedroom and went to bed.

Kate woke up in the middle of the night and could still hear it raining outside. She found herself still dressed in her bikini that she had worn all day, and she was in bed not knowing how she got here.

Kate decided to wash and maybe brush her teeth and get a drink of water and go back to bed. At least that was the plan until she made it into the bathroom and heard sniffling coming through the open door leading to Alexis's bedroom.

It got Kate to find Alexis curled up in bed who was obviously crying. This got Kate to kneel down and face Alexis. "Alexis, what's wrong?" Kate whispers out only to see Alexis shake her head.

Kate was seeing the first crack in Alexis's armor and was seeing the little girl that was Alexis leaking out. Kate didn't think Alexis was going to talk to her, at least not tonight. "Scoot over sweetie." Kate gave her a slight push getting Alexis to move more to the center of the bed and watched as Kate climbed into bed with her and spooned herself in behind Alexis and wrap an arm around her, holding Alexis in tight to her.

Kate stroked Alexis's hair and started humming a tune that her mother used to sing to her when she was little, sad and couldn't get to sleep. If it helped her, maybe it would help Alexis.


	10. Chapter 10

**CH10**

**It is now 1 month later: (July)**

Kate was lounging in the pool right next to Alexis. Kate had barely left Alexis's side since that one night. Kate had on purpose made sure that where Alexis went Kate followed, while not trying to smother her.

Kate didn't know if Castle had noticed or not, however he hadn't said anything and when Kate asked if Alexis had talked to her father about it, all Alexis did was shake her head.

IT! It had broken Kate's heart listening to Alexis's fears about her future or lack thereof. She had spent years in school applying herself to her studies. Doing countless summer projects that would only add to her ability to learn and learn about herself.

College was the next level and Alexis had plans, really big plans. She had three different majors that she was thinking about and she was thinking of pursuing them all. And when college was out she had still more plans.

All of that was up in smoke now. All she had left was her father's new dream and now even it was likely in dust. Who was going to come all the way out here to get away from it all now. Who was alive to come? Was money even worth anything anymore? And if she left her father to chase her dream, was there even going to be a college to go to?

It was the first time in a long time that Alexis felt lost and she didn't want to burden her father with her fears.

Kate had however noticed that Alexis's long term vision for herself didn't seem to include getting married and having kids. Kate didn't bring it up, however its absence was noticed by Kate.

The two of them didn't leave Alexis's room till almost lunch. Kate sat there or lied on her bed with her talking or just listening.

It was here talking with Alexis that Kate spilled her story about her mother being murdered and that was why she was a homicide detective, except for all the cases she had solved, who killed her mother still escaped her. And that it still haunted her even today.

"Some cases can't be solved, did that ever occur to you?" Alexis had asked.

"Someone knows, someone did it, all I need is information that I don't have. I just don't know where that information is or who has it." Kate countered, still praying that she could solve it one day. Without that closure Kate felt like she had let her mother down.

"Kate, dad used to write about murders, maybe he can help. He thinks like bad guys and the good guys, maybe dad can see something that you can't." Alexis offers.

"Everything I know about the case is at home." Kate points out, meaning this line of thought was going to get them nowhere. Plus not even contemplating telling Castle about her past. Alexis had needed her so she had told her, while telling Castle was out of the question.

"We talk to your friends weekly, have them scan everything and send it. We can plug one of our phones into the equipment in the office and print it all out for you." Alexis offers. "Please Kate, my dream is crumbling. If I can't have mine anymore maybe we can get you yours." Alexis begs.

It took four straight weeks to transfer what Kate had all the papers they had printed out in her bedroom. Espo and Ryan had taken it upon themselves to take a trip to Kate's apartment, scanned everything and sent her the information weekly.

Just one more week to go, after they scanned everything that was down in the archives, plus a trip to the precinct that had been abandoned to search their archives too. Espo and Ryan knew that this trip would require some support so they called in a few favors that included someone who had the key.

Rick approached the pool and looked into it finding Kate holding Alexis's hand while they floated in their blown up air mattresses. He didn't know where this came from, but he had seen it for almost a month now. Rick didn't understand the reason for the bonding, but he approved.

Rick had also seen one other thing, Kate was smiling a lot more and his attempts at getting Kate to have fun were meeting with more success, though she still fought him from time to time.

"Time to make a phone call." Rick offers, watching Kate let go of Alexis's hand like she had just been caught with her hand in the cookie jar. However she also rolled off of her mattress, stood up in the pool and walked for the ladder to get out with Alexis right behind her.

Rick didn't know what was going on and it had Rick very curious, just now sure how to get invited.

Kate was mostly dry and had a towel wrapped around her with Alexis standing next to her and Kate made the phone call. "Hi Espo!" Kate was still glad to hear his voice. It meant her old friends where still out there.

"It's good to hear you Beckett. How is island life?" Espo started out with light talk to lighten the mood.

"Hot actually. We've only had that one big rain storm almost a month ago, since then nothing." Kate however was learning to like the sun. And that one rainstorm had actually been a hurricane that was far enough out to sea that all they got was rain. It had started raining as the hurricane headed their way, roughly. Rained as it passed them by and then rained on the trailing edge.

It was one solid week of down-pouring rain, that had filled the cistern from just a week's worth of water to having water spill out of the cistern through the overflow pipe, leaving them with month's worth of water.

It had also put a damper on Castle's enthusiasm for it being the 4th of July. It hadn't helped his mood any when he didn't have any fireworks to shoot off. He had planned on getting a lot so he could shoot them off for any guests if they managed to open in time. They had left too fast for Rick to plan far enough ahead to stop and get any.

"Just don't go getting a sunburn Beckett." Espo teased.

"How are things there?" Kate wanted an update.

"Still lots of food, we finally found an electrician who could hook up the ranges that we have down in the garage. We have real meals now. People were starting to get restless around here. It really is crowded here Beckett." Espo points out. Not going into detail about where all the people were sleeping.

"We got word that one of the gangs made a run on the hospital that the 54th had turned into their headquarters. The 54th called and we sent 6 cruisers as back up and broke it up. It's been mostly quiet since then. Just minor little things. I think that's what's got Montgomery so antsy." Espo was guessing even if he was actually wrong.

"The main power is still on though Montgomery is starting to worry that someone will figure that out and take down the wires or shoot up the transformers putting all of us in the dark." Espo adds which he thought was a wise tactical move.

Roy had actually worked out that Kate while far away was working on her mother's case again and Espo and Ryan were helping her. However he didn't try to stop it. Everything was changing so maybe letting her was the right thing to do.

"Have you got everything Espo?" Kate wanted the last of the information.

"Sending it now." As Espo nodded to Tori who was actually doing all the tech work to send all of this.

Alexis was soon printing it out as she brought it up on the laptop, while downloading it onto the laptops hard drive under an encrypted section of the hard drive and then downloaded it all onto a flash drive that was easier to carry around, and hide for later if it came to that.

The rest of the phone call was spent with Kate talking with her father and Alexis and Rick talking with Martha.

Kate had everything all stacked up on the dresser in her room. So far Castle hadn't made any attempts at entering her bedroom, leaving Kate to strip off the bed sheets for herself. There were items that Kate had at home and yet here all she had were photos of it all that Espo had taken for her, it was everything Kate could think about that had anything to do with her mother.

"Dad, can we talk to you." Alexis approached her father with Kate right behind her, quaking in her boots, still not sure how Alexis had talked her into this. Kate was a very private person and letting Castle into her life was really something that didn't sit well with her.

"Kate has an open murder case that she has been working on for the last 15 years without success. …. We want you to study all of the information that is in Kate's bedroom." Alexis hands over Rick's laptop to him. "I, …. we want you to write another murder mystery using the information in Kate's bedroom.

Please dad, you used to write murder mysteries. … Write one more please, pretty please dad. …. Please." Alexis knew he was a writer and always would be, he just needed something to reignite his fire to write again.

"This has something to do with what you two have been doing together for the last month?" Rick asks not yet taking the laptop from Alexis.

"Partly yeah." Alexis wasn't willing to share it with her father just yet. Kate's need had given Alexis something to replace her fears about her future.

"Ask any question you need to Castle." Kate was willing to talk, even if her life was on all those pages that he was about to look at.

"Write you two a murder mystery based off of what you have in that bedroom?" Rick was actually hooked already, since he wanted in that bedroom to see what this was all about. A peek into Kate's life was just too irresistible.

"Please dad, you're a writer, write us another story that makes sense based off of what we have." Alexis pushed the laptop at Rick again.

If this was why these two were bonding and he really did want to know what it was. "It usually takes months to write a book." Rick warns them as he takes the laptop from Alexis.

Alexis looked back at Kate as Kate moved in behind Alexis and wrapped her arms around Alexis from behind and looked at Castle. "Then it takes months." Kate tells him. "Take the papers and move them to where you feel comfortable to write."

Holding onto Alexis was the only thing keeping Kate from running for her bedroom, closing the door and burning all those papers. What they were asking Castle to do was going to allow him to see into Kate's soul. This would put him into her life more than any man had ever before, except for Sorenson, and even he was never this close.

Rick took the laptop and left it on the breakfast bar and went back to working on their early dinner. "You two might need more sunscreen." Rick points out since it looked like they were both starting to look a little pink.

"SHIT!" Kate took Alexis's hand and dragged her to their shared bathroom, letting Alexis do her back while Kate did hers.

"It'll be fine Kate, dad has a very active imagination, he'll come up with something you've never even thought about." Alexis tries to calm Kate's fears.

"It's not what he'll dream up that worries me. My life is in those papers." Kate looks at the pile of papers on her dresser. "There are things I've never shared with anyone before. You're the first and Castle will be the second, it's just, …." Kate didn't know how to express just what Alexis had talked her into doing.

Kate soon found Alexis hugging her. "Dad can be a child some times. … Ok maybe most times, but he takes his writing seriously. Or at least he did. Maybe this will bring the writer that is hiding in there somewhere back out." Alexis preferred that her father was writing. It was too late to drop this place, but that didn't mean he couldn't write while he ran this place.

Kate extracted herself from Alexis's arms and went over to the dresser and opened the drawer and pulled out a book and took another deep breath. She was in this far, what was just one more step? Besides Alexis had bared her soul and she was 16, what did that make Kate at 32?

Kate handed over the book and got a surprise look from Alexis. "My mother forced me to go with her to get it signed. We waited for hours in this incredibly long and boring line. I was just a 15 year old flat chest child back then. Castle talked to us more than any of the ones in front of us. He asked questions, that I don't remember anymore.

After my mother died I started reading his books. Her death was really unexplained and the killer was never captured, while all the killers in his books where captured or killed.

It was a really dark time in my life and his books gave me hope. I've solved a lot of cases over the years and gotten justice for a lot of people." Kate bares more of her soul to Alexis.

"Everyone but you." Alexis understands.

"I've failed her. … I can't solve her case, after all these years I've got nothing." Kate admits to Alexis and herself yet again.

"Give dad a chance Kate. …. We should get some more cold drinks out of the store." Alexis offers, to get them out of the room and off this subject.

This got Rick to run for it as he was standing just outside Kate's bedroom door because he had wanted to ask Kate a question and got more of an answer than he had ever anticipated.

Rick ran out the back patio door to avoid the two women because he knew he couldn't keep his face straight if he saw them, and give himself away that he had overheard what they had said, even if he hadn't meant to.

Once he was sure they were gone, he went back into the kitchen and picked up the laptop and then went into Kate's bedroom to gather up all the papers.

"**WOW!"** Rick was now very impressed by the amount of information that was on her dresser. This was going to take some time, more than he gave credit.

He was still in his bedroom sorting the papers into various piles based on what a cursory examination told him.

"Looks like dinner is ready." Alexis mentions stepping into the kitchen, finding the casserole her dad had put together keeping warm in the oven.

"But where's Castle?" Kate questioned, not seeing him.

Kate went outside while Alexis headed for his bedroom.

It was a few minutes later when Kate came up behind Alexis who was standing in the doorway leading into the master bedroom. "Did you, ..." Kate stops when Alexis raises a hand.

Inside Kate and Alexis can see Rick deep into the paperwork that Espo and sent them and Alexis had printed out. It left Kate standing there with her mouth open, seeing Castle this engrossed in working on what they had asked of him already was surprising. Kate was sure Castle would simply use the papers to find out about Kate and her past.

Alexis however was just standing there with a large smile on her face. Neither of them were hiding while they watched Castle work and yet he gave no indication that he knew they were standing there watching.

Kate eventually pulled Alexis away and went to eat dinner. After they had finished eating Alexis put some on a plate and took it and a drink into her dad's room and left it there for him to eat.

Kate and Alexis however sat down to watch a movie. Kate however wasn't watching, her eyes were not focused on the TV, on the images that were there. She was looking that way, but her mind only knew Castle had her life in all those pieces of paper in his bedroom. Nor did she feel Alexis's hand in hers, occasionally softly squeezing it. Trying to reassure this woman that her father wouldn't do something stupid.

Alexis knew for all his faults, he would never do something to hurt her. Castle had been hurt before and knew what it felt like and would never do unto others what has been done to you.

Alexis had somehow gotten Kate to go to bed after the movie and Kate still didn't understand how she did that, but here she was, lying in bed wearing her night shirt. The only one she had really.

It's just that her mind wouldn't shut down and let her sleep. Not while Castle had all those papers.

Kate finally gave up and put one of her bikinis back on, a wrap around her waist and slipped into her flip flops and left her room to go into the kitchen to find something, even if there was still nothing on Direct TV to watch.

Stepping out into the hallway she could see that the door to Castle's bedroom was closed, however the light was still on. It was like a magnet and had Kate walking over to his door and even had her hand on the doorknob, ready to open it without knocking.

Instead she put her ear to the door and listened. However all she heard was her own breathing.

Kate chastised herself and left to go into the kitchen to find some kind of snack to keep herself busy with. Anything to occupy herself so that the knowledge of what Castle was reading didn't get to her, even if it already had.

Kate was oblivious to when Alexis joined her on the sofa, oblivious to when Alexis had taken her hand in her own too. It wasn't until Kate felt Alexis's head on her shoulder that Kate ever noticed that Alexis was even there.

"Couldn't sleep." Alexis whispers out, neither knowing if it was a question or a statement.

It was sometime later and the sun was up enough to get Alexis up to turn off the A/C units in the bedrooms and turn on the ones in the living room. "Breakfast?" Alexis offered, only to see Kate shake her head.

Kate's mind wasn't on breakfast, movies or anything else really. It was in Castle's bedroom, in the papers that he was reading. What Kate really wanted to do was go in there and take all those papers away from him.

(How did I let Alexis talk me into this? I've lost my mind)

Kate did however finally notice that Alexis had her up and walking into the kitchen where Kate sat down at the breakfast bar and silently watched Alexis go outside and come back with eggs. The onions were fresh, however the tomato's and spinach were from a can as Kate sort of watched Alexis making omelets for them, along with some toast using the bread made the day before.

Kate was still amazed at what you could do with a bread machine. It was a BREAD machine after all. Just where did these two learn how to use it like this?

"How do you know how to use a bread machine to make more than just bread?" Kate was finally awake enough to talk.

It got Alexis to start breathing again and got her to smile at Kate. Kate was back among the living!

"Dad does a lot of research when he writes, he wants to get the details right so that it sounds real. It wasn't even a main character for his book. Derek Storm was after some guy and found him at home playing family. He had some woman he had charmed in off the street thinking that he loved her and she was using a bread machine to make things to cook with.

So dad came home with two of them and we started making stuff to find out what you could make and how hard it was to do. It's amazing what you can find on the internet using Google. Dad had us making all kinds of stuff.

Jam for peanut butter sandwiches, various types and flavors of pudding, … even bread pudding." Alexis was grinning wide over that one, which had Kate grinning lightly at the joke.

"Dad wanted to know how to get out of a chair when the person was wrapped up to it in an entire roll of duct tape. So he had me tape him to a chair and go visit Paige for a few hours." Alexis offers a little insight into her dad.

Alexis could see the 'AND?' written all over Kate's face and simply smiled at her, letting her suffer for a moment. "When I came home, the chair was broken, the coffee table was broken. I found dad asleep on his bed and pulled the comforter over him and went to my room.

Next morning Dad was walking all stiff like he was a robot or something. A couple of days later his arms were all bruised from whatever he had done to get out of all that duct tape. I never did find out just how much more of him was bruised." Alexis started grinning while drinking her drink.

It had Kate grinning wide now and shaking her head. "I guess what I'm trying to say, is that dad goes to extreme lengths to make sure that whatever he thinks up will actually work in the real world. I think that's why his books sold so well. Dad would explain each and every little thing so that the reader would understand it and see just how possible it really is." Alexis offered some insight into what Kate could expect when her dad was done writing her a book.

"And does he do this?" Kate nods her head towards the bedrooms and motions her her hand like she was thumbing a ride.

It had Alexis grinning again. "When dad gets lost in what he is writing he just zones out. It used to bug me that I could stand in the doorway to his study and yell at him and he would just sit there typing away as fast as his fingers would let him. I could even hear his fingers tapping on the keyboard.

He'll eventually stop and end up dead on his bed still dressed. I'd work at getting his shoes off and some of his clothes and then pull the comforter over him, only to find him madly typing away again in the morning when I came downstairs to check on him.

He's probably sitting in there doing who knows what and hasn't touched the food I left him. I'll leave him something for lunch and again for dinner and pray that he slows down enough to eat it." Alexis didn't know when she was going to see her dad again. However it did make her feel better knowing that he was writing again. It's who he was, he had just lost sight of it for a time.

Kate turned to look at the bedrooms and wonder just who was Castle? She thought writers would write like most people worked, except for her of course, 9 to 5. Forcing words out onto a page only to have an editor somewhere rip it to pieces forcing him to re-write it.

It still didn't explain the playboy part of him, that part that was still securely in place in her mind.


	11. Chapter 11

**CH11**

**It is now 1 month later: (August)**

Kate and Alexis hadn't seen Castle for three days actually after he had started and when they did he looked like a zombie, simply going through the motions with blood shot eyes.

Alexis had managed to get him to eat something and then helped him into the spare bedroom and into bed and watched him fall asleep the second his head hit the pillows.

Alexis was standing in the door way leading to his room finding it was a mess. Kate's papers were still in neat piles, however he had been using other papers to make notes on and they were all over his bed.

Kate suddenly showed up behind Alexis and had placed her hands on Alexis's shoulders. "He's up!?" Kate didn't see him thinking that maybe he was in the on-suite bathroom maybe.

Alexis nodded her head. "I got him to eat something and then put him to bed in the spare bedroom." Alexis explains as they both take in the mess that was his room.

Kate stepped inside and helped Alexis remove untouched plates of food and empty glasses or bottles from the store. If what Alexis had said was true, it meant Castle hadn't eaten anything in three days.

Castle was a stranger, how could he be this interested in her life? Just what was he doing in here?

Kate had gotten tired of pork and shark and was ready for something else during this period of time.

"We can go fishing if you want to try." Alexis offered.

Kate had jumped at the chance. "Anything but shark." Kate prayed.

"Then grab a normal fishing rod or two out of the storage building along with the tackle box and meet me down at Flash." Alexis smiled as she made her way to the front door and start walking for the boats, and can hear the sound of Kate's flip flops as Kate runs for the storage building.

Kate all but jumped in the boat. "I'm driving!" Kate jumped into the driver's seat and held out her hand for the keys, smiling wide, giddy with excitement. GOD she hadn't felt like this since she was a teenager, but this boat was going to be so much fun. Kate was going to put this baby through its paces.

"KATE! … KATE!" Alexis is yelling at her as she holds on for dear life to the seat she is in, ever so happy that she had chosen to wear a life vest. Except that was only going to keep her from drowning and not prevent the massive amount of fractures she was sure she was going to have soon when Kate crashed the boat.

"KATE, WE'RE SUPPOSED TO BE FISHING!" Alexis tries yelling again.

It took another hour before Kate and Alexis were sitting in the boat just outside of the shallows of a neighboring island, fishing, when Alexis's line caught a fish. "Let him take it Alexis, just a little more. NOW yank it hard." Kate offers encouragement and advice.

Kate was soon motoring back to the dock slowly, every so slowly. "I'm sorry Kate. … Really." Kate however just kept going slow while not paying any attention to Alexis.

Kate even left Alexis to carry the cooler that had their three fish in it up to the house after Kate let Alexis tie the boat to the dock.

Alexis was in the kitchen skinning the fish they had caught. Ok the fish that ALEXIS had caught, all three of them. "Kate I said I was sorry." Alexis offers while she runs her knife over the fish doing what Kate told her to do.

"You're supposed to skin it not butcher it." Kate moans. "Move over or we'll be eating pork or shark again." Kate hip butts Alexis out of the way and cleans the fish herself.

"I'll go start the grill." Alexis offers and heads for the back patio.

"It was beginners luck, you know that. … Likely never going to happen again. … EVER!" Kate yells at Alexis's retreating form only to get Alexis to turn her head and smile back continuing her trip out to the grill.

Kate really was enjoying getting to know Alexis. Alexis really was an amazing young woman. Kate was still going over in her head how she could give Alexis back at least some of her dreams after all of this.

Kate soon showed up with three catfish that had a dry rub on them and a bottle of BBQ sauce.

Kate sat near the grill and opened it from time to time to check on the fish and brush on some BBQ sauce. Alexis however was also noticing that Kate was breathing in heavy whenever she tended to the fish. Getting Alexis to smile wide, since they really did smell really nice. Catfish was going to be a nice change.

"I'll go get the bread sliced and put the green beans on the stove." Alexis offers while smiling at Kate who was looking back at Alexis wondering what Alexis was thinking, since there was something in the look on Alexis's face.

"OH YEAH! … This is good. Now this is fish. … We're going fishing again tomorrow." Kate announces with a sudden bout of memory loss on who caught all three of the fish.

They actually went fishing for catfish again the next three days and found new and tasty ways to cook it. What really surprised Alexis was that when she went into her father's room to check on him, his plate of fish was empty even if he didn't recognize that Alexis was even there.

Being ignored however made Alexis happy, it was like her father acted when he locked himself in his study. Plus it meant her father was really getting involved with helping Kate by writing her a book.

Alexis walked into the kitchen with a plate that only had fish bones and an empty glass. "I take it that he is still alive?" Kate questions Alexis as Kate was sitting at the breakfast bar nursing her drink.

"His room is a mess and I don't think he's showered again in days." Alexis was guessing by the look of him since she wasn't brave enough to get close to him.

"You sure this is healthy for him? …. Maybe we should rescue him and force him into the shower?" Kate was beginning to get concerned over him. Castle was doing this because of her, because of her past, her mother.

"Give him a few more days." Alexis offers, since she had seen this before.

Kate opened her mouth to contradict Alexis however Castle was her father and she knew how much they loved each other, so she closed it and remained silent.

"How about a board game unless you want to try dad's X-box." Alexis was hoping Kate had never played X-box and she could mop the floor with her.

Kate however having been spending this much time with Alexis could see something, one of her suggestions meant trouble for her, however Kate just didn't know which one. Still she had a 50-50 chance. "Board game." Kate tried to sound convincing.

Alexis went to select a board game cursing silently, how did Kate get so damn lucky. What Alexis doesn't see behind her back is Kate pump her fist. She had selected right and now knew to stay far, far away from the X-box. At least until she got in some practice without these two.

Twilight Struggle Deluxe Edition - This Deluxe Edition of Twilight Struggle seeks to capture the feeling of that earlier era. Twilight Struggle is a two-player game simulating the forty-five year dance of intrigue, prestige, and occasional flares of warfare between the Soviet Union and the United States. Twilight Struggle recreates the conflict between the most powerful nation states the world has ever known. The scope of the game covers the entire world as it was found in 1945. Players move units and exert influence in attempts to gain allies and control for their superpower. Twilight Struggle is a two-player game simulating the forty-five year dance of intrigue, prestige, and occasional flares of warfare between the Soviet Union and the United States.

They were still playing when it was time to start dinner however working together to make dinner was also part of the game. "Stop crowding me commie." Alexis bumps Kate in the hip.

"Just for that I'm going to give you a tactical nuke." Kate counters bumping Alexis in the hip.

"That's very thoughtful of you commie pig, I'll make sure to return it to you in perfect working condition." Alexis counters and bumps Kate in the hip.

"I will bury you Imperialist dog." Kate bumps Alexis in the hip a little harder.

"That does it I'm going to initiate plan R." Alexis counters.

"I LOVE THAT MOVIE!" Kate turns to look at Alexis.

"We have it on DVD in the cabinet." Alexis offers.

"Truce while we watch it as we eat?" Kate offers since she really did love that movie.

"Deal." Alexis offers her hand that Kate takes.

Alexis has left a plate and drink in her father's bedroom and was sitting on the floor next to Kate as they ate off of the coffee table, while watching their movie.

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.

"I love Peter Sellers." Kate offers taking a bite.

"We have all of the Pink Panther movies too." Alexis offers.

"Peter Sellers movie marathon tonight?" Kate offers.

"What about the game?" Alexis asks.

"We both have enough nukes to blow up the planet several times over. … Game over." Kate points out.

Shot in the Dark, Pink Panther, Return of the Pink Panther, The Pink Panther Strikes Again, Revenge of the Pink Panther.

Alexis was leaning up against Kate sound asleep before they could get to the last two movies.

Kate simply left the A/C units on and got Alexis to lie down on the sofa and found a light cover and let her sleep, after stroking her hear and kissing her head.

Kate stopped at Castle's closed door noticing that his light was on and thought about knocking but thought Castle wouldn't answer. And Alexis had been just walking in without knocking all this time, but Kate didn't feel right about doing that, so she turned around to head for her room, just as Castle's door opened.

"KATE!" Castle was looked glad to see her. "You're mother is amazing Kate." And Castle leaned in and kissed Kate on the cheek and then practically jogged for the living room and Kate could hear a door open and close.

Kate just stood there and watched Rick come rushing back with his hands filled with still more papers. Rick stepped up to Kate and with papers in hand hugged Kate and kissed her cheek again. "Thank you." And Castle disappeared back into his bedroom.

It left Kate standing there stunned. Kate had felt him next to her, since all either of them were wearing was a swimsuit, and where did the kisses come from?

Kate told herself it didn't mean anything; it's just that it took her a couple of hours to go to sleep that night, with her mind running through possibilities in her head.

Kate was showered and dressed in one of her bikini's, wrap and flip flops and stepping into the living room and found Alexis still sleeping on the sofa. However it was the noise in the kitchen that got Kate's attention. "Castle!?"

Castle was out of his bedroom and working on fixing breakfast. "You're alive." Kate points out as she starts walking for the kitchen.

As she does Kate watches Castle exit the kitchen and walk right for her, getting Kate to stop and wonder what he was planning on doing.

What Castle did wasn't what Kate was expecting, he walked right up to Kate and wrapped her arms around her and held her tight. "I didn't know Kate. … I had no idea." Castle however didn't let go of her after he had said something.

Instead Castle actually moved his hand to Kate's head and pressed her head into his chest.

Kate was suddenly being held in a manner no man had done to her, for her in a long time. It got Kate to melt into being held by Castle. Her face was being pressed into his bare chest and he smelled amazing. It smelled like the soap he had used, him and his after shave. Combined Kate found that she liked it.

"Your mother was amazing. … Did you know that she created her own encryption for all her notes?" Castle asks.

Kate managed to take her head off of Castle's chest and look up at him. "Mom did it so that if her notes were ever subpoenaed it wouldn't do them any good unless she translated it for them. Problem was only mom knew it. … I've been trying for years to solve it." Kate hadn't had any luck with her mother's notes at all.

"Seriously?" Castle pushed Kate a little farther away from him so he could look at her. "Come with me then." Castle took her hand and escorted Kate to his bedroom.

"What about your breakfast?" Kate offered while being forced to follow along behind him.

"It can wait." Castle counters, thought he did need to get back to it since the pan was on a burner that was heating up.

Castle hands Kate a piece of paper. "My mom's notes with her impossible encryption." Kate confirms. And then Castle hands her a hand written page, one of what looked like hundreds scattered all over his bed.

Kate started reading and was looking between the two. "YOU SOLVED IT!?" Kate stared at him.

"I know a guy." Castle shrugs his shoulders.

"You know a guy?" Kate was now looking between the papers and Castle.

"I followed around a CIA operative once for about a year years ago, and I got to know a lot of people because of it. Naturally everything I wrote had to go through them first. … However one of the guys I met worked on breaking encryptions.

I took pictures and sent them to him using my phone. Thankfully the CIA in Langley is locked up tight and free of infection. I sent him every page of your mothers notes and he sent them back for me to print out." Castle picks up a pile of papers that had all of Johanna's notes all deciphered for Castle to read.

"You, … you, ..." Kate didn't know what to say as she saw all the pages in Castle's hands. How had he, …? Kate could feel the tears starting to flow down her face. She had never been this close to solving the case that was her life.

There was only one thing Kate could think of to do to say thanks. She kissed him softly, quickly and then backed off a little while still looking at Castle and let the tears flow. What she didn't expect was to feel something from that one little kiss. She didn't really know him except from what Alexis had been telling her.

And then something happened, Castle kissed her back. Wrapped his arms around Kate and feeling her own arms go around him as Castle kissed Kate and pressed into the kiss. Using his tongue to ask for entrance and when getting just a slight break in Kate's lips the war of dueling tongues was on.

They only broke from the kiss to get some air, only to have Castle kiss Kate again. Kate was soon moaning into the kiss. No one had really kissed her in a long time, it had even been longer since she had even been with a man. Her job had come first, Kate loved her job.

NO, NO, Castle was a playboy and only interested in sex and since she was the only one here, she was the only choice he had.

Kate got out of his arms and backed off. "Castle, …." Kate didn't want to hurt him, but she wasn't going to get involved with him either, so she ran for her room and closed the door, leaving a shocked Castle in her wake.

"Too soon." Castle reasoned and kicked himself for pushing. It's just that what he had been learning about Kate showed him that he liked her. Plus what he was reading about Johanna Beckett showed him that he liked her too.

Castle went back to work trying to work out what to put into this book they wanted from him and he was liking what this book meant a lot, a whole lot. His kiss had been part interest in Kate and part thank you for re-igniting his drive to write murder mysteries.

And boy did he have a doosey in mind for it. While Castle worked on the book, he also started working out how to approach Kate and spend some time with her. "Maybe a picnic on the beach?" Rick talks to himself.

Castle was still holed up in his bedroom come morning and Kate knew Alexis was already up since she could hear the shower running earlier.

Stepping into the living room Kate could see Alexis in the kitchen breaking open eggs. Couple more weeks and they might be able to have chicken for one meal. They already had brand new chicks that had hatched only days ago. It was a good thing that the chicken coop was as big as it was.

The first 5 chicks were growing up fast, now they had 5 more little adorable chicks running around.

Kate sat down at the breakfast bar. "Morning." Kate offered, with her mind still on the kiss with Castle last night.

"Morning Kate, you want to split these with me?" Alexis offers.

"Sure." Kate answers, except her mind isn't on what Alexis is doing.

"Something wrong?" Alexis knew Kate wasn't used to having fun and was usually quiet, but had been coming out of her shell lately, however it looked to her like Kate wasn't with her today.

"NO, nothing's wrong." Kate lied.

Alexis abandons what she is doing to look at Kate. "What happened?" Alexis was learning to read Kate.

"Hhhmmm, … nothing happened." Kate lies a little louder. Only to see Alexis stare at her.

"It's nothing, … honest." Kate didn't want to talk about out, only the silent treatment Alexis was giving her was getting to her.

Kate groaned. Alexis was learning about her too. "I kissed Castle last night." Kate whispered out hoping Alexis missed all of that and went back to cooking before it burned.

"AND?" Alexis asks looking at Kate with a wide smile on her face.

"He kissed me back." Kate scrunched up her face, not sure how Alexis was going to take this information.

"AND?" Alexis was growing tired of having to drag it out of Kate kicking and screaming, or so it seemed.

"I ran to my room and went to bed." Kate finally admits.

"AND?" Alexis tries again.

"And our breakfast is burning." Kate points to the stove.

It got Alexis to turn her back on Kate, however it didn't stop her from talking. "And you don't like dad?" Alexis asks.

"That's not the point." Kate counters.

"So you do like dad." Alexis was smiling while she finished cooking and moved it to plates.

Alexis puts Kate's plate on the counter. "You kissed dad, so you must like him." Alexis reasons.

Kate however remains silent, wanting this topic to end.

"So are you going to kiss dad again?" Alexis was enjoying this topic.

"NO!" Kate answers.

"So you do like dad." Alexis heard what she wanted to hear and Kate's fighting back only solidified her belief.

"And what part of NO did you not understand?" Kate counters.

"And what part of 'you kissed dad' did you not understand?" Alexis counters.

"It was a mistake, one I'm not going to make again." Kate steeled herself to never kissing Castle again.

Alexis only continued to smile at Kate, knowing her dad wasn't likely to let this kiss be the first and last.


	12. Chapter 12

**CH12**

**It is now one month later: (September)**

They hadn't talked with Andy in Alaska or Robert in England for at least 2 weeks. Castle was spending all of his time in his bedroom and only he knew how to use all of the equipment.

Last they knew not much had changed. Japan was still clean, the Caribbean was still clean, as was Cuba and anyplace else that was an island, like Hawaii. Their major problem was food. Most places like Hawaii had a lot of their food shipped in and there just wasn't anyone to man the ships or even load the ships.

Robert had heard that the Royal Air Force was flying recon missions over Europe, however he didn't know what they had found. All of the military's communications were encrypted.

There were also a few changes in daily life on the islands. Castle came out of the bedroom roughly every two days, looking showered, shaved and happy. And the first thing he did on each occasion was walk over to Kate and kiss her cheek and say "Thank you."

Then two weeks ago Castle spent the entire day with them. Kate and Alexis were lounging in the pool with Kate holding Alexis's hand again, wanting or even needing the contact. Partly for herself and partly as reassurance for Alexis, when Castle suddenly showed up and climbed into the pool with them and just sat there soaking in the pool.

Kate had instantly taken her hand out of Alexis's the second that she saw him and little by little the two of them drifted apart.

Kate's tan was getting deeper and deeper as the days, weeks, even months went by. Plus with Castle holed up in his bedroom Kate had taken to removing her top along with Alexis so that their breasts were getting tanned also.

Today however happened not to be one of those days. Kate was just thinking that she had been in the pool floating around on her mattress long enough when she heard Castle humming. At first it didn't mean anything to her, till she had heard it more than a couple of times.

It was the theme song to JAWS! "Don't even think it Castle." Kate warns him not bothering to open her eyes. He wouldn't, … would he?

Castle went silent so Kate relaxed thinking Castle had gotten the message when suddenly Kate was completely wet and sitting on the floor of the pool. Kate came up spitting water. "You're going to die Castle!" Kate yelled at him after getting enough air in her lungs, only to hear Alexis scream and listen to water splashing.

He had gotten Alexis too. Kate had only just registered that thought when her feet suddenly went out from under her, ending up almost on her butt at the bottom of the pool.

Down here she could see Castle under water smiling at her as he worked at staying under water.

Kate planted her feet on the bottom of the pool and pushed off heading for Castle like a torpedo with her hands out in front of her, catching Castle in the stomach forcing all the air out of him, getting him to go to the surface sputtering and spitting water.

It's just that Kate needed air by now too since she had been caught unprepared and ended up surfacing right in front of Castle, face to face.

Kate was just starting to think about splashing water in his face to try and drown him when suddenly Kate found Castle's arms wrapped around her tight. "Castle!" Kate started to complain but was silenced when Castle suddenly kissed her.

Kate initially struggled against his arms, however those lips were making their way past her walls just a little too fast for her liking.

After Castle finally broke from the kiss to get some air. "Castle don't." Kate went limp, not offering to fight back or kiss him back, even if she did when Castle was kissing her.

Castle backed off immediately and watched quietly as Kate got out of the pool and grabbed a towel before going into the house. Castle took a deep breath and sank to the bottom of the pool and watched as Alexis left the pool also.

Castle stayed down until he couldn't take it anymore and went up for air. Castle however didn't leave the pool, he just stayed there lifting his feet from time to time.

Alexis found Kate sitting at the breakfast bar having taken a drink out of the refrigerator. Kate's favorite bottle of tea was long gone, now she was drinking a bottle of Powerade.

Alexis took her own bottle out of the refrigerator, opened it and started drinking while standing in the kitchen, watching Kate silently drink hers.

"I'm sorry Alexis, but I just can't." Kate finally gave in to Alexis's silence and then stood up and took her drink to her bedroom and closed the door.

Alexis didn't understand, at least not completely. The two of them had been talking to each other a lot ever since Alexis's mini meltdown and Kate had spent the night with her and had barely left her side since then.

Alexis was loving the attention and it was nice having a woman to talk with. Openly discuss things with Kate that she would have done with her dad, it's just that it was easier with Kate.

Alexis had let her be that day, and when Kate came back out that night, they went right back to their normal routine.

It had been almost 2 straight months and neither of them barely saw Castle during that time. He had even been more silent after the encounter in the pool.

Kate and Alexis were just coming back from the store transferring a few more of the cold drinks to the house, even though the store was starting to look empty of drinks, chips and a lot of things.

As they stepped inside they found there was food that was starting to cook on the stove along with a lot of lights on outside on the back patio.

It had both of them curious so they went to the patio door and saw Castle cooking on the grill. It got Alexis to open the door. "Dad!?" She was glad to see him up and about. He even looked clean and dressed in one of his long leg swim trunks and flip flops.

"HI! … I thought I would cook tonight." Castle was smiling and went back to what he was cooking, which was more catfish that Kate and Alexis had caught yesterday and left in the refrigerator for tonight.

"Are you ok dad?" Alexis asks softly.

"I'm fine, honest. … Look I know I've been kind of absent lately, it's just that I had a lot in my head that I needed to get down on paper. … Well laptop and paper actually. And I'm sorry I haven't been pulling my weight around here lately." Rick was sorry about that.

"You've been writing dad." Alexis didn't need an apology, she was just glad her dad was writing again. It was who he was, she thought it was made her dad the most happy.

"How's it coming Castle?" Kate asks standing right behind Alexis.

"Pretty good actually. … Your mother is amazing Kate. I can see why you would miss her a lot." Rick had read a lot over the last 2 months. "You wouldn't believe what your mother puts in her journal. It's not just things about work.

There are events that she had mapped out to remind herself of things. Reservations that she had made. Birthday reminders, … even gift ideas. Even Christmas gift ideas.

Your parents sent you to camp for three straight years when you were younger. … The time when your mother made an appointment to go with you to a spa. She had even picked out a color for both of you while you were there." Castle offers.

It had Kate remembering that day, her mother had gotten one color for her fingernails and another for her toes. Kate however had rejected her mother's choice and had gotten ten different colors for each of her nails, hands and feet.

It had Kate placing a hand over her mouth. "There was even a notation that she was going to buy your dad a power tool, along with a giant first aid kit. Something about Costco." Castle offered.

That got Kate to place both hands over her mouth and start blinking back tears. "Mom was so sure that dad was going to cut off one of his fingers. Even after she gave dad her gift she never actually let him use it. I don't think dad ever did get to use it." Kate offered never knowing that her mother had put so much non-work information in those journals.

"It is a work journal, don't get me wrong. There is a lot of stuff about trying to get subpoenas, dates for interviews with various people. It's just that she also made notes to remind her tell her husband that it was his time to pick you up from school, so she knew you weren't forgotten and just left there." Castle offers.

Kate was dying to ask if he had found out who had killed her. It's just how would her mom know she was going to be murdered and who would do it?

"You want to check the stove and get something to drink, this is almost done." Castle offers.

They were all sitting at the table out on the back patio making small talk. "I've got one more thing." Castle tells them and goes inside and comes back to the patio door. "Come with me." Castle tells them.

Kate and Alexis follow Castle inside and up the spiral stairs headed for the roof. They very rarely used this space. It was mostly filled with solar panels. They watched Castle spread out a comforter that he had gotten off one of the beds and dropped three pillows on it.

They were all lying on the comforter with pillows under their heads looking up at the stars. "Ever wonder if we are alone in all of this?" Castle asks them.

"Statistically it's impossible to be alone dad." Alexis points out.

"That's not what I meant. … Is there Star Trek out there? … Starship Troopers maybe? …. Star Wars?" Castle clarifies his question.

"Krell." Kate offers.

"I love that movie!" Castle offers.

"Dad and I have seen it countless times. It's downstairs in the DVD cabinet." Alexis offers.

"We are so watching that movie tonight." Castle informs them.

"I'll go start the popcorn." Alexis jumps up, ready to watch the movie now.

Kate and Rick were left behind. "She's an amazing young woman Castle. … You've done well with her."

"I don't know that I can take too much credit. Between the two of us, she's always been the most sensible of us. I couldn't get her to even eat a cookie just before bedtime. She just somehow knew that it was wrong.

No cigarettes, no drugs, … even the friends she selected for herself didn't get into trouble. I used to worry that she was missing out on being a kid. Alexis was so keen on being an adult and act all grown up." Castle had lots of worries when Alexis was younger.

"And without a mother." Kate points out, knowing what Alexis thought of her mother. It was one of the things that hurt Kate's heart. Kate missed her mother, but at least she had one.

"Meredith. …. I never could get Meredith to be a mother. She gave birth to her. The second she was placed in my hands, I knew my life had just changed and that I loved her with all of my heart.

Meredith. …. She threatened to get an abortion and kill her before she was even born. I married her because she was pregnant. … I mean that's what you're supposed to do right, marry the woman that you get pregnant?

I had a meeting for one of my books with Black Pawn and Gina kept me really late, she was pissing me off.

I came home to a crying Alexis. I changed her really dirty diaper and started warming up a bottle and wondered where Meredith was. She was supposed to watching over her, she was a mother.

I found her in our bed riding her director for some part that she wanted. … I threw both of them out and Meredith sent me divorce papers three days later.

Next thing I knew Meredith had almost everything and I had Alexis, clothes and not much else and was flying to New York to start again." Castle explains Meredith.

Kate knew she had her answer about Meredith, that just left Gina and all the bimbos that Castle had gone to bed with.

"Didn't Gina help?" Kate knew he was twice married.

"Gina, … Gina and I made perfect sense on paper. She was my publisher, editor, call it what you want. We were both in the same industry and I hadn't dated or been with anyone since Meredith. I thought she was just what I was looking for. Someone who knew me and be a step-mother to Alexis.

We were out at my beach house in the Hamptons one week. One whole entire week, just us as a family. … Alexis was still little. We were out at the pool that Gina refused to get into. … Didn't want to get her hair wet.

I went inside to gather up the food to put on the grill. Apparently Alexis had taken to diving into the pool to show off to Gina, who simply ignored her. Gina always ignored her, it was one of the things we fought most about.

Seems Alexis would jump and and then climb out and run around the pool edge to get where she could dive back in again." Rick pauses, as it plays out in his mind again.

It also had Kate slapping a hand over her mouth, fearing what she knew was coming.

"Alexis slipped, miss jumped, I don't know. All I knew was that Alexis was in the pool screaming in pain while Gina just stood there doing nothing.

Best I could work out, Alexis had slipped and hit her arm against the side of the pool breaking her arm and fell into the water." Rick paused again, since he could still hear his baby screaming in pain while almost drowning in his own pool.

"Gina and I fought over what she had and obviously hadn't done. I drove Alexis to the emergency room and was given a ticket for speeding while I was in the waiting room to find out how Alexis was.

Gina stayed at the house and made no attempt to come with me. … She was my daughter and I should have been watching her. It wasn't Gina's job to watch someone else's child was all Gina would tell me.

It was the beginning of the end for us. A few short months later Gina had my $2 million advance for my next book and I was divorced for the second time.

While Gina and I may have our differences, she was still good at her job and incredibly focused on that part, so I kept her.

It was shortly after that, that Gina came up with the playboy idea to get me into the papers. If my name was being used a lot, people talking about me, it would help sales. … And it seemed to be working.

Next thing I knew I had women hanging all over me." Rick starts laughing, which only was pissing Kate off, not that Rick was watching.

"All these women that wanted to be the next Mrs. Castle, or at the very least get me into their bed. Every man's perfect dream right? … Except all I wanted to do was dump them and forget they even existed and go home to Alexis.

Sit on the sofa watching a Disney marathon. … And after she got older we would have a movie classic marathon, or even old TV shows. … George Burns, Laurel and Hardy, Three Stooges, Marx Brothers.

Then we moved on to comics, Rodney Dangerfield, George Carlin, Bob Hope and that guy that would smash water melons or other things with his giant mallet." It had Rick smiling, listening in his head to his daughter laughing.

"I even bought her and her friends tickets to the local Jeff Dunham show one time. You know, the guy that's a ventriloquist that plays with dolls." Castle offers.

Kate didn't know who Jeff Dunham was since Kate didn't get out much. Her life was work. She did however know who Rodney and the others were. She was just a little girl sitting in front of the TV on the floor watching Three Stooges episodes on reruns on some channel that she didn't remember.

"Don't get me wrong there was an occasional woman that would gain my interest. It's just as soon as I mentioned that I had to go home to my daughter, they all disappeared. An occasional one night stand might be some men's cup of tea, but that wasn't me. Even if the papers did make up all kinds of stories based on the women Gina had selected for me for all the events that I would attend.

Gina sent me to all of them. Then my little girl grew up and I started taking her to all these events. It pissed Gina off, not that I cared. Having Alexis there was the only thing that made those events fun and worth going to.

And she's still growing up, I don't know how she got to this age. All I see is the little girl that I took and dropped off at elementary school. Now she's smarter than I ever dreamed of being." Rick wiped away a few tears that had escaped. His little girl was past her sweet 16 and growing up fast. Way too fast.

"We have a movie to watch, we can look at the stars again tomorrow." Rick jumped up and headed for the door leading down to the living room. Leaving Kate and her thoughts about what she had just learned behind.

Kate really was lost in just what to think. Meredith was an ass! Kate knew if she had a child or ever did have a child, Alexis was the perfect child to have.

Gina sounded like another useless woman in Alexis's life. Just how was Alexis so perfect after all of this?

It was now that Kate decided that she was determined to be a part of Alexis's life. She wasn't anyone's mother and likely never would be, but she was going to be Alexis's best friend from now on.

A usual they had the sound from the TV turned off and the sound for the stereo system cranked way up. They didn't have any neighbors so no one was going to be calling the police to complain about the noise. And all three of them were making comments all through the movie, since all of them had seen it several times.

Sony BDV-N7100W

_5.1-channel system_

_3D Blu-ray playback_

_Built-in Bluetooth with NFC; Built-in Wi-Fi_

As on previous family movie nights Kate found an occasional popcorn kernel in her lap with a stoic Castle on the other side of Alexis trying to look innocent. This time however Kate had a tiny twitch of a smile as she threw them back at him, or occasionally ate the evidence.

What was new this time was having Alexis throw an occasional kernel at both of them, only to follow up by making some comment about the movie to distract them. By the end of the movie Kate was smiling since she had actually had fun watching the movie with these two goof balls.

The loose popcorn kernels were picked up and Alexis had excused herself to go to bed. Kate had hugged her and kissed her check and told Alexis good night.

Since Rick was out of his bedroom he was able to witness this and was wondering just when this had started? He was itching to ask, but maybe it was a onetime thing. He needed to get out of the bedroom more often.

"I'm going to bed Castle. Thanks for the movie, it was fun." Kate gave Castle a Mona Lisa smile and start to turn away only to be stopped by Castle.

"I'm sorry if I've been holed up in my bedroom. … It's just this book you want me to write has given me inspiration to write again. Something I thought I had lost after I killed off Derek Storm. And you and your mother really are amazing." Rick was learning a lot. Probably more than Kate thinks he knows. There was so much information in all those papers.

(Might as well ask now.) "Castle why did you kill off Storm?" Kate loved his books and her two signed copies of his books were safely tucked away in her bedroom.

"Honestly? … I got bored with him. I mean how many times can you save the United States or the entire planet? And just how many super villains are there in the world anyway?

I knew what he was going to do today, what he was going to do tomorrow. The only things that were going to change were the names. If I kept it up he was just going to be another James Bond, only without all the cool gadgets that he has. And he was never going to find the right girl, ever." Castle tries to explain.

"So you killed him." Kate still didn't like that Storm was dead. The books were entertaining. Kate didn't care if Derek Storm didn't evolve into being something more. The mere fact that Storm didn't change was part of the appeal.

Castle started grinning. "Yeah, and it was messy too. Kind of hard to come back from that, unless he was a zombie. Of course he wouldn't be Derek Storm anymore. … Hhmmm, a zombie Derek Storm who can't die because he's already dead." It had Rick thinking. NO, he liked the idea for this book better. There was more life to it. More depth to the characters. He could do so much with this new character.

Castle leaned in and kissed Kate on the cheek. "Night Beckett. … I'm going to get up early and go pig hunting. Maybe I can take a stab at butchering it this time. We could have bacon for breakfast. Put the shoulder and ribs in the smoker out back." Castle offered and kissed Kate on the cheek again and turned back for the kitchen.

It had Kate standing in her bedroom slowly taking off her bikini and searching for her night shirt while turning on the A/C unit for the night, since it was still warm out. Too warm out to get to sleep in.

Kate paused before climbing into bed.

(Maybe he's not a playboy. Maybe it all was Gina's fault and lies that the papers wrote to get sales. He was obviously an amazing father, and all he wanted was to spend time with his daughter.

Just why did he let Gina do that to him? The only women he was ever going to meet with that image were the ones that were only interested in his money or a one night stand. Just how dense was he?)

So many questions and not enough answers. They were scheduled to talk to friends and family again tomorrow, right after lunch, followed by talking with Robert in England that night. Maybe she could get the guys to do some digging into this Gina.

Kate now had a mystery, one she could work on from long distance that was also getting close to home.


	13. Chapter 13

**CH13**

Kate woke the next morning to the sound of Alexis in the shower, so Kate rolled over and pushed her head into her pillow. Sleeping in was still something she had trouble doing, even after all this time.

It was just a few minutes later when there was a knock on her door leading to the bathroom. "It's all yours Kate, I'm going down to check on the plane." Alexis informs her.

It had Kate smiling wide, just where did Alexis get all of this? Kate knew when she was a teenager, she was a pain to her parents. It was one of the many things she regretted having done, now that her mother was gone. Her mother had died and the last thing Kate had done was drive her and her father crazy with the losers of a boyfriend she had selected just to spite them.

Kate rolled out of bed and took a shower, and was soon back in her bedroom putting on one of her bikinis, a wrap around her waist and slipped into her flip flops.

Kate took a brief moment to look at herself in the mirror. Kate still didn't believe it was her. All she wore all day long was a bikini, a wrap around her waist and flip flops. Her tan was getting pretty deep now however she was still putting on sunscreen, as was Alexis and likely Castle.

It also had Kate wondering why Castle was kissing her lately? They weren't real kisses for the most part, except for that one instance that came to mind. Her picture of Castle in her mind seemed to be changing and there weren't that many black marks pinned to his picture anymore.

Kate knew she was falling for Alexis fast. There was some part of her that she didn't know she had, that had touched her and had her wanting to do everything she could for the young woman. Now she just had to figure out Castle.

Stepping into the living room, she didn't see Castle, though he had said he was going pig hunting this morning and likely spend a lot of the day slicing the pig into various sub pieces. It would be good to have bacon at breakfast for a change, let alone what that smoker on the back patio sitting next to the grill could do.

Smoke Hollow 44241G2 44-Inch Vertical LP Gas Smoker

Like the grill it had a small propane tank hooked up to it. They had already drained propane from the main tanks to fill the one connected to the grill twice already.

Kate didn't understand why they had so much propane till Castle had explained what it took to have the tanks filled and how much it cost. The dryer was electric and was in the same room that the pumps that took water from the cistern below them, along with other equipment including access down into the cistern.

Whirlpool Heat Pump Dryer and LG Heat Pump Dryer

LG WM8000HVA Washer

Kate had even used them a couple of times, though Castle did most of the laundry, until he locked himself in his bedroom. After that she and Alexis had traded off doing laundry.

Kate had learned that the refrigerator was a duel fuel appliance. It worked on either electricity of propane. It however was set for electric all of the time so far.

Kate was looking through the refrigerator looking for eggs or anything else that could be used for breakfast for when Alexis came back from looking the plane over.

"**MOM!"** This word suddenly had Kate curious. It was Alexis's voice, but she had never called her mom before. It got Kate to go to the door and open it looking out to question why Alexis was calling her mom?

What she saw however chilled her to the bone. There were two men, both with guns and one of them had a hold of Alexis by one arm with his gun pointed into her neck.

"Well, look what we have here. … I think I'm going to like this island." The one not holding Alexis was smiling wide while pointing his weapon at Kate.

Kate's cop mind swiftly switched into gear and looked them over. They were both young, maybe middle 20's and they both looked a little thin and had obviously been out in the sun a lot. They both were wearing shorts, sneakers and a T-shirt. It looked like they both had Glocks similar to Kate's service weapon.

SERVICE WEAPON! Kate knew her's was in her bedroom, Castle's was sitting next to the TV, while Alexis's weapon was in a drawer in the kitchen, just right over there. Each had the clips sitting next to them or near them. The tommy gun was in a sealed from the weather cabinet up on the roof along with all 5 of the 100 round drums. Kate also knew all of the clips and drums were loaded.

"I get dibs on the mother, you can have the daughter." The one not holding Alexis offers.

"That's fine by me. This one probably hasn't ever had a man before. I'll bet she's nice and tight too." The one holding Alexis started smiling as both of them started thinking about the fun they were going to have tonight.

"It's too bad your husband had to go and die on you honey. But never fear, real men are here now. … Now step out here and turn around." The one not holding Alexis flips his weapon showing Kate what he wanted her to do.

Kate didn't like the idea of stepping further away from her closest weapon. Kate knew she could take these two, it's just that Alexis was in the middle and didn't want her hurt. Losing Alexis would hurt too much now, she was in too deep to lose her.

Kate needed a plan. "NOW BITCH!" The one not holding Alexis yells at Kate and points his gun, only to have an arrow show up and strike him in the neck, just below his adams apple and poke out the back of his neck, getting him to start gurgling up blood.

Kate didn't bat an eye and lunged inside for the gun in the drawer in the kitchen. Kate heard shots being fired just as she pulled the SIG out of the drawer. Kate's heart was in her throat, however her training had her peeking around the corner praying that it wasn't Alexis on the other end of those shots.

What Kate did see however was Alexis plunging the heel of her foot straight into his toes with only sneakers between her heel and his toes. Kate watched as Alexis fell to the ground and the guy who had been holding onto her lifted up his foot and screamed in pain.

Kate wasted no time and put three rounds in a nice tight grouping in the middle of his chest, and then rushed out to Alexis.

Kate ignored the two guys lying on the ground and hugged Alexis, who was slowly starting to cry as the adrenaline of the situation began to wear off.

"You're fine Alexis, you're fine, I've got you." Kate held Alexis close and started kissing her head.

Kate had all of her focus on Alexis when she suddenly jumped out of her skin when Castle showed up and hugged both of them. "Alexis, pumpkin?" That got Alexis to look at him and switch from hugging Kate to falling into her father's arms.

Kate sat back and let the family comfort each other. "CASTLE, you're bleeding." Kate could see blood running down his left arm from somewhere near his shoulder.

"DAD!?" Alexis let go of Rick and finally saw the blood running down his arm. Now Alexis's hands were all over his arm trying to find where he was bleeding from.

"It's nothing pumpkin, I'm fine." Rick shook his head, since it barely hurt at all and was almost as shocked as they were that he was bleeding.

"Come on inside Castle, let me look at it." Kate helped lift Castle up and watched Alexis rise up off the ground with him.

Kate had Castle sitting at the breakfast bar while she dropped the SIG on the counter. "Go find the first-aid kit Alexis." Kate asks of her and Kate grabs a paper towel and starts looking at Castle's arm.

"I heard Alexis yell for mom. At first I thought she was yelling for Meredith, that somehow she had made it all the way out here. Which made no sense since she has no idea that we're out here.

Then I saw the two men, one of which was yelling at you and waving his gun, so I ran back for the storage building and grabbed the crossbow and loaded it.

The one holding Alexis was just too close and it looked like the other was going to shoot you, so I shot him. I think I was actually aiming for his chest. … I think." Castle explains his actions of late.

Kate could however tell that Castle was beginning to shake as his adrenaline started to wear off too. It was likely the first person he had ever killed before in his life.

"No one hurts my family, no one I love if I can help it." Castle adds as if he was reading Kate's mind.

Alexis was back with the first-aid kit and it was a big one. This one looked like a backpack type of kit.

Rick wrapped his good arm around Alexis who buried her head into his shoulder.

"It's just a graze Castle, you've been shot, without actually being shot." Kate informs then as she prepares to clean the wound.

"And here I thought I was going to have my very first momento of having been shot for the first time." Rick was bummed.

"This is going to sting a bit." Kate warns him as she applies some antiseptic to his bullet wound.

"OWE!" Castle flinches as he complains about Kate's treatment of his He-man wound.

"Oh don't be such a baby Castle, it's just a scratch." Kate scolds him.

"Don't belittle my wound of glory Beckett. You weren't on the other end of all those bullets he was firing at me." Castle defends himself.

"I've been shot at countless times Castle. It kinda comes with the job. … And for your information I've been shot before. … And stabbed. …. And cut." Kate counters.

"KATE!?" Alexis lifted her head off of her father's shoulder to look at Kate, not liking this information.

"I'm fine Alexis. No permanent damage." Kate assures her, provided you don't count the scars that were on her body. "There. … You're all patched up Castle. Good as new." Kate announces and starts putting her tools away.

"You stay here with Kate pumpkin. I'm going to go get rid of our unwanted guests." Castle informs them as he stands up and kisses Alexis's head.

"Take your weapon with you Castle. There may be more than two." Kate doubted it, but couldn't rule it out. All those shots would have brought someone up here by now if there were more.

Castle came out of his bedroom carrying his SIG and stopped off at Alexis and Kate. "You two be careful." Castle kisses Alexis's head and then turns to kiss Kate's head, and walks for the back patio door.

"What are you going to do Castle?" Kate asks to his retreating form.

"Use the quad and trailer to take them down to one of the boats and feed them to the sharks." Castle explains.

Kate exits her bedroom with her 9mm in hand and hands Alexis the SIG she had just used. "Show me where you encountered them. Let's see if we can figure out how they got here and if there are more of them, and check on the plane." Kate asks of Alexis.

They walk past Castle who was loading the last of the bodies into the trailer as Alexis took Kate to where they guys grabbed her and started her story about what had happened.

"You called me mom." Kate points out.

"They jumped me and wanted to know where my parents where, so I told them it was just my mother and me. … One of them put a gun to my head and told me to call for my mother." Alexis explains where the word mom had come from.

Kate was conflicted listening to all of this. Kate was proud of Alexis and her ability to be this calm after having two idiots pointing guns at her. Kate had also felt something when Alexis had called her mom, and now she felt something else knowing the word mom, was just that. A word that Alexis had used because of these two idiots.

It had Kate wondering if she wanted Alexis to start calling her mom just as Kate saw the boat that these two had gotten here in. "Stay here while I check it out." Kate asks of Alexis.

"I'm going with you. … I'm your backup. … I know how to shoot Kate." Alexis informs her.

"I'm sure you do, but this isn't a shooting range and this isn't paper targets." Kate didn't like this idea.

"I'm going, you need a partner." Alexis wasn't leaving her behind or letting Kate do this alone.

Kate sighs heavily. "Fine, but you stay behind me and do what I tell you when I tell you." And Kate started walking for the boat that was sitting on the beach.

It was a pretty good sized boat. About the size of the fishing boat they had used to catch the shark with, just not as nice. It looked older and not in as good a shape.

"Go up and look around while I check out the cabin." Kate tells Alexis.

The aft deck was littered with beer cans and it looked like they had used a camping propane tank to cook fish with on a make shift grill.

Downstairs Kate found dirty clothes littering the area along with a number of empty jerky bags, potato chip bags, candy bars and a few water bottles.

There was also a small amount of fishing tackle. It was as if they had used up what little they had. Just where were the poles to do the fishing with?

Kate was back outside finding Alexis climbing down as soon as Kate showed herself.

"The engine won't start. The battery might be dead; however the fuel gauge reads empty." Alexis informs her.

"So they ran out of fuel and drifted while fishing for food till the propane bottle ran out." Kate drops the empty mini propane bottle on the deck along with the makeshift grill. "And here's the battery." Kate points out seeing it hooked up to some makeshift contraption.

"What were they doing with this?" Kate looks it over.

"Electrocution is one way to cook meat or even fish." Alexis offers.

"So without fuel or propane they pull the battery to cook what fish they can catch using electrocution." Kate works out. "Looks like just the two of them. … We need to search the tents in case someone is hiding, and check out the plane. See if they damaged it." Kate wanted to keep both methods of leaving here open if or when the time came.

Kate and Alexis cleared the island one tent at a time till they made it to the plane where Kate just stood guard and let Alexis check out the plane since it was her baby. "Anything?" Kate asks as she watches Alexis finish.

Alexis shakes her head. "She looks fine, I don't see any damage and she is still locked." Alexis informs Kate.

"Let's go see if Castle is back yet, see what he wants to do with their boat." Kate offers.

"All we need to do is put the battery back in place, provided they haven't drained it dry. Put some gas in it and move it around to the dock area with the other three boats." Alexis tells her.

"Do you know how to replace the battery?" Kate asks and watches Alexis nod her head.

"The only gas is over by the docks. … Where are the gas cans?" Kate asks.

"Storage building." Alexis informs her.

"You replace the battery and test it and I'll get the gas." Kate offers and watches Alexis head back for the boat to replace the battery.

Kate was filling the can and wondering how to move it when she spotted the quad and trailer Castle had left behind. Kate was just putting the very full and heavy can into the trailer when she spotted Castle coming back.

"Where's Alexis?" Castle asks.

"We found their boat. It looks like they have been adrift for a while and ran across us by accident. She's putting the battery back in place while I pick up the gas so we can move it over here." Kate explains.

"You left her alone!?" Castle was instantly mad at Kate for being that stupid with his daughter, he thought Kate liked her.

"Relax Castle, the two of us searched the island, tents and even checked out the plane. The store was still locked, so it's just the two of them. Even the boat shows signs of just the two of them." Kate counters, not missing the tone in his voice.

"Sorry, I guess, … I'm sorry." Castle relaxed.

"She's your daughter Castle, I get it, but she's fine. I'm a homicide detective, this isn't my first rodeo." Kate knew he was being a father.

"I'll wait here while you two bring their boat around, see what we've got." Castle offers and watches Kate drive away with her gas can.

2007 Albemarle 41 Convertible, named 'Big Mac'.

"Not bad, it needs a thorough cleaning and the engines likely need some work, but we can probably use it." Castle was smiling after taking a tour of it when Alexis had it docked and tied to the dock.

"We can start using it for our garbage dumping at sea after I get a good look at the engine." Rick offers.

"You know how to work on marine engines?" Kate was impressed now.

"Just rudimentary engine work, maybe replace a part or two, clean some of the screens. It's not like we have the parts for any of the boats really. … Trust me, I'm not anxious to get myself stranded out there just by taking out the trash." Castle assures them.

"Were you planning on dumping your trash at sea anyway?" Kate was curious.

Alexis shakes her head. "We have a contract with a company out of Miami that was supposed to come collect our trash monthly. We selected them partly because they promised NOT to dump it at sea. It's just now we don't have much choice." Alexis explains.

It almost had Kate smiling again. These two really did have everything planned out.

"We can get started on cleaning her out and checking the engine starting tomorrow. Maybe there is something onboard that will explain where they came from." Castle offers and starts walking for the house.

Actually he had to go all the way to the other island to get the quad and trailer since he still needed to go pig hunting. Thankfully it wasn't even lunch yet so they still had time.

"You alright pumpkin?" Rick wrapped his arms around his daughter.

"I'm fine dad, I'm just glad you didn't get shot." Alexis was still a little shaken, but they needed that pig.

"I did get shot I'll have you know. I even have the scar to prove it." Castle points out his bandage on his arm.

"That's a wound not a scar dad." Alexis points out his incorrect use of words.

"I'm the writer here I'll have you know, and it will be a scar after it heals." Castle points out.

"Actually it's so small, no one will be able to see it Castle." Kate piles on correcting Castles point.

"Just for that you can cook your own bacon in the morning." Castle sticks his tongue out at Kate. It did however get Kate to smile. Something that didn't go unnoticed by Rick or Alexis.

Kate went outside with Castle and watched him load his crossbow and stow it after putting on the safety, followed by his helmet. "Wish the big game hunter luck?" Castle asks.

"It's a pig Castle, not a rhino." Kate counters.

"You wound me Beckett." Castle feigned being shot in the heart.

"Just come back safe Castle." Kate counters.

"Your sympathy for my health is touching Beckett." Castle smiled out of his helmet.

"I'm hungry Castle, and I want bacon for breakfast." Kate teases back.

Kate was however smiling wide as she watched Castle drive off in search of one of the many pigs on the island.


	14. Chapter 14

**CH14**

**It is now one month later: (October)**

It had turned out to be a lot more work to butcher a pig than just gutting it and throwing it into the luau cooking pit like last time. However both shoulders and the ribs went into the smoker and Kate was cooking herself bacon just days later.

Having real BBQ ribs complete with a dry rub that had been rubbed onto them as well as the shoulders had been delicious and a welcome change. Canned corn and canned beans with green onions out of their little greenhouse and bread from their bread maker had completed the meal and several meals after that.

Rick had been proven correct about the boat. Kate and Alexis had put a lot of elbow grease into cleaning it inside and out, while Rick had worked on the engine.

Everything that was from those two had ended up as trash and dumped far out to sea using their own boat. Those two idiots still had their wallets on them so they had an ID for both of them, and a quick phone call to Espo later that week and they had everything they didn't want to know about their two un-invited guests.

One Donald Heinz and one Frankie Simms. Donald had a few arrests for theft along with one attempted carjacking that he had been in prison for. His prison roommate had been Frankie Simms, who was a registered sex offender.

That did not make Kate feel better and kept that information away from Castle and especially Alexis since he was the one that had taken an interest in Alexis.

Kate had gone into Alexis's room that night and the two nights that followed and spooned herself in behind Alexis. Alexis wasn't showing any signs of having been traumatized by the event; however Kate wasn't taking any chances.

"You don't need to be here Kate, I'm fine." Alexis had told Kate her second night in Alexis's bedroom.

"Humor me, I want to be sure. … Don't worry I'm not moving in." Kate smiled at her and had stroked Alexis's hair and tucked Alexis's head in under her chin while her arm held Alexis close.

Also true to his word Castle had started coming out of his bedroom and was more engaged with both of them. It was only a couple of weeks ago that Castle had Kate laughing till her side hurt and she was even having trouble sitting on the sofa.

Castle had decided it was 'Who am I' night and it turned out Castle was pretty good at it.

FIRST ROUND:

I'm not a sexy guy. I went to a hooker. I dropped my pants. She dropped her price.

Last week I told my psychiatrist, "I keep thinking about suicide." He told me from now on I have to pay in advance."

When I was a kid I got no respect. The time I was kidnapped, and the kidnappers sent my parents a note they said, "We want five thousand dollars or you'll see your kid again."

I tell ya, my wife was never nice. On our first date, I asked her if I could give her a goodnight kiss on the cheek - she bent over!

I tell you, with my doctor, I don't get no respect. I told him, "I've swallowed a bottle of sleeping pills." He told me to have a few drinks and get some rest.

Some dog I got too. We call him Egypt because he leaves a pyramid in every room.

My wife and I were happy for twenty years. Then we met.

I'll tell ya, my wife and I, we don't think alike. She donates money to the homeless, and I donate money to the topless!

One night I came home. I figured, let my wife come on. I'll play it cool. Let her make the first move. She went to Florida.

I asked my old man if I could go ice-skating on the lake. He told me, "Wait til it gets warmer."

My doctor told me to watch my drinking. Now I drink in front of a mirror. I drink too much. Way too much. My doctor drew blood. He ran a tab.

When I was born the doctor came out to the waiting room and said to my father, "I'm very sorry. We did everything we could...but he pulled through."

I come from a stupid family. During the Civil War my great uncle fought for the west! I come from a stupid family.

My father worked in a bank. They caught him stealing pens My father was stupid. He worked in a bank and they caught him stealing pens.

SECOND ROUND:

"YOU MIGHT BE A REDNECK IF:"

You think "loading the dishwasher" means getting your wife drunk.

You ever cut your grass and found a car.

You own a home that is mobile and 5 cars that aren't.

You think the stock market has a fence around it.

Your stereo speakers used to belong to the Drive-in Theater.

Your boat has not left the drive-way in 15 years.

You own a homemade fur coat.

Chiggers are included on your list of top 5 hygiene concerns.

You burn your yard rather than mow it.

Your wife has ever said, "Come move this transmission so I can take a bath."

You read the Auto Trader with a highlight pen.

The Salvation Army declines your mattress.

You've ever raked leaves in your kitchen.

Birds are attracted to your beard.

Your wife's job requires her to wear an orange vest.

THIRD ROUND

'When I was born, the doctor said to my mother: 'Congratulations. You have an eight-pound ham.'

'A bank is a place that will lend you money if you can prove that you don't need it.'

'A James Cagney love scene is one where he lets the other guy live.'

'She said she was approaching forty, and I couldn't help wondering from what direction.'

'Welcome to the Academy Awards – or as it`s known at my house, Passover.'

'I left England when I was four because I found out I could never be King.'

'Culture is the ability to describe Jane Russell without moving your hands.'

'I thought about running for the presidency. But my wife said she wouldn't want to move into a smaller house.'

One week later Kate and Alexis took Flash out to go fishing with in search of more catfish and finally, finally Kate caught all three of them and was sash shaying her way up the path to the house with three catfish in her cooler.

Castle had come in from warming up the grill to find Kate preparing them to put on the grill. "And who caught them this time?" Castle asks only to see Kate smiling wide lighting up the kitchen.

"Congratulations!" Castle leaned in and kissed her cheek, or at least it was going to be her cheek. However Kate had turned her head to say something and Castle ended up kissing Kate on the lips.

Kate soon found Castle wrap his arms around her and take what was going to be a quick kiss and press the kiss into something more heated. It also had Kate kissing him back.

After Castle broke from the kiss he still had his arms wrapped around Kate and Kate had hers around him. "Congratulations." Castle whispers into Kate's lips.

Kate was looking into the blue of his eyes and starting to drown in them. "Thanks." Kate offered weakly.

"I'll get the side dishes ready." Castle offers and lets go of Kate and walks into one of the pantries and doesn't come out for some time.

Alexis had gone to her bathroom to wash up and was just standing at the entrance to the hallway watching Kate and her dad kissing with their arms wrapped around each other.

Castle was in the pantry. "So you do like dad." Alexis offers sitting down at the breakfast bar.

"Alexis, ..." Kate didn't know what to say.

"Just don't hurt him Kate. After mom and Gina I'm not sure he could take another rejection that he puts his heart into." Alexis just wanted her dad happy, and Alexis had noticed that Kate was a lot more happy lately than after they first got here.

"Alexis I don't know what we have. He's nice, funny, a bit of a child sometimes and an ass other times." Kate didn't know what to tell Alexis.

"And he makes you happy." Alexis offers.

"Yeah, he does do that. … I can't make any promises Alexis. I just, …. I don't, … I guard my heart. I've had it broken enough." Kate wasn't going to just spill everything, not even to Alexis.

"So has dad, and I think he's lonely." Alexis was thinking of adding onto that, however Rick came back out of the pantry with a couple of cans and two boxes of something.

One of their problems was they had no butter and no method available to make any of their own. However they had found a little in the refrigerator on the boat of those two idiots. Now they were hoarding what little they had.

One of the boxes turned out to be Au Gratin potatoes that required milk from the other box, since it was powdered milk, a can of peaches and a can of green beans. Some sliced bread that was used to wipe their plates clean with and they were all sitting back on the back patio looking up at the stars, perfectly satisfied.

"I'd kill for some ice cream." Alexis moaned. It was one of the many things that they didn't have and actually had no way of making their own.

"Peppermint." Kate offers. "Or strawberry."

"Anything with chocolate in it." Alexis offers, getting Kate to "hmmm" in response.

"Potato chip fudge." Rick offers.

"Really Castle, potato chip ice cream?" Kate sat up to stare at him like he had just grown a second head.

"Don't knock it till you've tried it Beckett." Castle countered.

"We could step outside our front door and walk down a few blocks and order up a double scoop on a waffle cone." Kate leaned back to look back up at the stars.

"With a banana, chocolate sauce and whip cream." Castle licked his lips.

"Put it in a blender with M&amp;M's or a Butterfinger." Alexis added to the dream.

"A nice giant porterhouse steak." Castle offered.

"A-men." Kate could definitely go for one of those.

"Pizza." Alexis offers.

"Kung pao chicken." Kate offered. "We need to stop or I'm going to go mad." Kate needed this kind of thinking to stop.

Castle and Alexis didn't respond, however they did stop talking.

The next day had turned out to be a busy day. Just as the sun came up they had a quick conversation with Andy in Alaska.

"We're all still here, last night was filled with what we don't have. Porterhouse steak, ice cream, Kung Pao Chicken, Pizza." Castle listed off a short list, only to hear Andy laughing.

"Out here it's sunshine, beer, and condoms. … It's so cold outside there isn't much else to do." Andy has to admit.

"Don't tell me." Castle offers.

"Yup the misses is pregnant." Andy was laughing, even if he was happy in addition to worried. Just what kind of planet was he bringing a child into the world.

"How is Japan?" Castle asks.

"Still clear of infection, however they are starting to get desperate. Japan has very limited resources. All of their oil is shipped in. It's the same problem they had at the beginning of WWII. There is talk about sending out ships to look for some. Likely Philippines for some other area.

How are you?" And asks.

"Propane is good, still plenty of power, gasoline is starting to worry me since it doesn't last forever." problem was Castle didn't know just how long, only that it didn't last forever.

"We have a similar problem; I'm told that if you add Sta-bil to the fuel it will last up to 18 months." Andy tells him.

"Good to know, we had it added when we took delivery since we didn't know when we would get more or how long it would last." Castle was happy now since they were good for months still.

Next up came a phone call to Espo to find out how things were going.

"Power went off last week, now we're on emergency generators as is the 54th at their hospital, except they have a bigger generator." Espo was forced to admit.

Kate had told them to go out looking for bottles of Sta-bil to add to their tankers of gas, all they could find.

They were now down to cooking on the roof using propane bottle or Kingsford Charcoal since all of the oven were on electricity and all they had were little Honda generators. The refrigerator/freezers took top priority, along with the microwaves and coffee machines.

"COFFEE! … GOD I'D KILL FOR A CUP OF COFFEE!" It was another thing that Kate was missing.

The store had a few of those K-cups and one whole coffee maker and Kate had used up all of them weeks ago and she was still going through withdrawals.

"Sorry Beckett, you're the only one with an airplane. … We do know however that the infected are still out there. Montgomery sent a large squad to look at one of the blown bridges and the other side was filled with them.

We have worked out however that they are attracted to loud noises. They hear one and they come running. One bite and seconds later you are one of them.

The military is still just off the east coast. They've been blowing bridges to create islands all up and down the east coast. From what we hear the bigger the city the harder it was hit.

The Midwest because cities are far and few between has been the least affected. They think they stopped it at the Mexican border and so far Canada is equally clear." Espo tells them.

"What about the nuke of the east coast, the navy had us divert because they were thinking of dropping one on our way out here." Kate asks him.

"They did actually; D.C. is gone as is Boston and Philadelphia." Espo tells them. "Here's your dad." Espo hands the phone over to Jim since he was standing right next to him having seen that Espo was on his cell phone.

Kate momentarily thought that took care of Will. He wanted his job in Boston and took it thinking for some strange reason that Kate would move with him.

"Katie, it's good to hear you. Are you alright still way out there?" Jim was missing her.

"I'm good dad. … Alexis and Castle are taking good care of me. Lots of food, lots of movies, will still have power since we make our own. … You should see my tan; even my hair is getting lighter in all this sun." Kate started to giggle, not knowing where that came from.

"You sound happy Katie." Jim could hear it in the tone of her voice.

That caught Kate by surprise and it had her thinking back to some of the moments that Castle had her laughing so hard that her side was threatening to split wide open. "Yeah I am dad, I actually am." It also had Kate thinking of what she thought about Alexis. These two were getting in past all of her walls, Alexis especially. Not that Castle was that far behind her somehow.

"Well whatever it is keep doing it Katie, you deserve to be happy. Life isn't all work honey." Jim didn't know that Lanie had told her that before she had even made Captain.

"I've got someone else who wants the phone now. You take care of yourself Katie, and let them make you happy." Jim didn't know how much longer they were going to be able to hold on. Especially since he knew that Captain Montgomery was sending out large teams to raid any restaurant anywhere near them.

The grocery stores and convenience stores were likely devoid of any food and even if they found more, they were going to stay at one main meal per day per person. The water was still on, however Captain Montgomery had every container they could lay their hands on filled with water while they still could.

They had been forced to transfer two families to the 54th's hospital since the mother had given birth to a new born baby. They were better off over there. The precinct had also gotten more crowded as people were running out of food and winter was approaching in a couple of months, and they didn't have enough fuel oil for a hard long cold winter. Plus they were down to emergency generators.

Thankfully any fights or even heated arguments were far and few between. Likely being in a police precinct surrounded by armed 24 hours a day officers had something to do with that. Jim couldn't help wonder if Katie was letting them in past all her walls. It did sound like they were making an impression on her.

"Alexis darling, how are you and your father?" Martha was next.

"We're both good grams, we still have food and power and lots of water still." Though Alexis knew that if it didn't start raining again in a couple of months they were going to have to start thinking of rationing water again.

"Are you and your father getting along with your guest dear? Katherine I think her name is." Martha and Jim had been talking a lot lately. Their children were involved together so they had been talking to each other about their children and/or grandchildren.

"Kate is great grams, even dad is warming up to Kate." Alexis wanted to say Kate was warming up to dad too, but was afraid that might set the two of them back.

Martha was missing doing what she was used to, and felt like she wasn't contributing anything, however there were a lot of people in the precinct who weren't doing much to help. It's just that Martha felt guilty about it.

Espo promised to get Lanie up to the 4th floor the next time Kate called so they could talk.

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So who were the three people that Rick did impersonations of?

Love to hear your guesses.


	15. Chapter 15

**CH15**

**It is now one month later: (November)**

Rodney Dangerfield

Jeff Foxworthy

Bob Hope

Did you guess correctly?

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Kate was lounging on her mattress in the pool after having lathered on a good amount of sunscreen.

Kate had her eyes closed when she felt her mattress move from a wave. Opening her eyes she saw Alexis working her way over to the other air mattress.

It left Kate lying there with a smile on her face. Alexis and Castle both had started giving her morning hugs and kisses on the cheek for the last couple of weeks.

Kate was softening when it came to Castle and she knew it, however there was a voice in her head that kept telling her he was a playboy and not to be trusted. He just wanted into her pants. After all she was the only woman around here for him to chase.

Alexis however was already past most of her walls. Kate knew she was even looking forward to their morning greeting and was hugging and kissing Alexis back.

Castle had disappeared into his bedroom again and was gone most of the day. Alexis had taken him lunch and came back reporting that he was sitting at his little desk he had in his room madly typing away. Completely zoned out that and oblivious that Alexis was even there.

Castle had however emerged for dinner and was apologizing for disappearing on them for the day. "I had so much in my head that I just had to get it all out." Castle explained.

"How's it coming dad?" Alexis was curious, while Kate was chomping at the bit to read what he was coming up with.

"I'm just about to start chapter 17. I'm thinking there will be 20 or 21 chapters with a little over 300 pages." Castle explains.

"That's great dad!" Alexis was happy her dad was writing again and wanted to make sure he knew it.

"Is there going to be a book after this one?" Please say yes dad, please say yes.

"I'm thinking the two main characters may have lots of books in them. I'm really liking both of them, even better than Derek Storm." Castle was even beaming. "And I have you to thank for it all Beckett." Castle leaned over and gave Kate a longer than necessary kiss to her cheek.

"I didn't do anything Castle." Kate counters.

"Au contraire mon ami, my dear Beckett. You and your mother have everything to do with it. Who and what you are is simply amazing. … And your mother obviously loved you a lot from the notes she left behind.

It would appear that you drove her and your father crazy for a little while, but she was proud of you. Next to her husband you were the most special and favorite person in her life. … Don't even think different Beckett. … Not ever." Castle then gave Kate a quick chaste kiss to her lips. Leaving Kate in shock.

Castle headed out to the grill to fire it up and use up the last of the shark steaks that they had from their second shark they had caught. This time it was a reef shark they were thinking.

"Just admit it Kate, you like dad." Alexis was smiling wide as she went into the pantry to look for compliments to the shark steaks.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Kate yelled at Alexis who was buried in the pantry, where she couldn't see Alexis smiling wide. Even if deep down Kate knew she was lying to herself and to Alexis.

Kate had re-closed her eyes and was floating comfortably when she was suddenly in the water headed for the bottom, butt first. Kate quickly surfaced only to find a massive amount of water being splashed in her face.

Kate had her hands up trying to block the water. "ALEXIS!" Except all Kate could hear and barely see was Alexis laughing at her, when suddenly the water stopped and Kate saw Alexis lunge for the ladder and was up and out of the pool quickly, still laughing.

Kate however was not going to take this lying down and lunged for the ladder herself and was up and out of the pool quickly.

Kate heard Alexis squeal and run for it around the house, with Kate in hot pursuit. Alexis was laughing the entire way, right up until Kate caught up to her.

Kate had already learned from watching Castle that Alexis was ticklish and since Kate had Alexis in her arms Kate let loose with a vicious tickle attack.

There was just one problem with Kate's plan, she was ticklish too. And when Alexis fought back for a second with her own tickle attack and got Kate to back off with a look on her face that said her goose was cooked, Alexis went on the attack.

"ALEXIS!" And Kate was now the one that was on the run with Alexis hot on her heels.

It had Kate stepping onto the ladder and launching herself back into the pool hoping that the pool would be a safe place to hide out.

Alexis stopped at the pool and glared at Kate. "COWARD!"

Alexis left Kate alone in the pool and went back into the house. "You were right dad, Kate is ticklish. She's hiding out in the pool at the moment." Alexis approached Rick who was in the kitchen using the mixer.

"Told you so." Rick offered smiling. "Just so long as she stays there long enough for me to finish." Rick turned off the mixer and checked his recipe.

SPONGE CAKE BASE:  
¾ cup coconut flour  
1 tsp. baking powder  
¼ tsp. salt  
6 eggs, separated  
1 cup sugar  
1 tsp. vanilla extract

PINEAPPLE FILLING:  
1 pineapple, cored and finely chopped (approximately 4 cups)  
1 cup sugar  
½ cup + 2 tbsp. water  
2 tbsp. cornstarch

FROSTING:  
1 cup butter, softened  
2 ½ cups confectioner's sugar  
1 tsp. vanilla extract  
2 tbsp. coconut milk  
1 cup shredded sweetened coconut

"This is going to use up a lot of the butter that we still have and I'm using a combination of powdered milk and condensed milk to replace the coconut milk with and let coconut soak in it, since we don't have a choice. That and canned pineapple since we don't have fresh." Rick tells her.

"I think it's great dad. … How did you find out it was Kate's birthday anyway?" Alexis was in on the surprise and loving her dad just a little more for it.

"Johanna's notes had a notation not to forget her daughter's birthday and stay at work too late. She didn't actually give an exact date, but since it was noted on November 17 I'm hoping that was the right day." Rick explains.

"You keep working on the cake while I start work on the frosting." Alexis offers.

Rick and Alexis were done and all cleaned up and actually working on lunch to cover the smell of the cake that was finished baking and hidden away for later, when Kate came in with a towel wrapped around her.

"Ready for lunch Beckett?" Castle calls out.

"Starving, what are we having?" Kate was enjoying the food here, even if they were missing a few things.

"BBQ pork shoulder sandwiches with homemade bread and fresh picked fruit cut up into small pieces." Castle offers.

Rick and Alexis were hoping that the smell of BBQ would overpower the smell of the cake that only just came out of the over not that long ago.

Homemade bread, that must be what she is smelling under the surface of the BBQ, however. "Where is the bread machine?" Kate was a detective.

"Already cleaned and put away." Alexis offers smiling. Alexis however saw her glaring at her. Maybe smiling wasn't a good idea.

"If you're not hungry Beckett." Castle starts to take away her sandwich and takes back the mini bag of chips in his other hand. "We're on our last case of chips." Castle points out trying to divert Kate's attention off of Alexis.

"Hand it over Castle." Kate takes the plate and snatches the bag of chips out of his hand.

Kate however is sure something is going on so she stares at them while they all eat lunch.

A vote was taken on what to have for dinner and now Kate and Alexis were out in flash running around till Kate was ready to head for the flats and go fishing for catfish.

"I take it you like this boat?" Alexis wasn't really guessing haven seen the giant smile that was on Kate's face as she put the boat through its paces. Kate's giant smile that was threatening to break her face wide open was all Alexis got back in return.

It took them some time to catch three fish and they actually changed to a different area to catch the third.

Kate sat quietly at the breakfast bar watching Castle and Alexis marinate the fish after Kate did the preparation. Kate was sure something was going on, just didn't know what. These two were up to something.

They only had about another month's worth of cold drinks left now too and they were all sitting outside on the back patio tending to the fish while talking and drinking one of their cold drinks.

Kate was glad for the catfish since it was a welcome change. "We're short on chips, short on drinks, I know the cistern is almost full after that 4 day storm that blew through a few weeks ago. So how is the pantry?" Kate was starting to get concerned.

"We had a year's worth at the start and we've been here around seven months so we're fine. We'll have to be careful on any splurges or eating binges, however they both look more empty now." Castle answers her question.

Kate knew they had inspected each tent and the plane after each storm along with the four boats that they had now. "Deep sea fishing again tomorrow?" Kate asks knowing these were the only catfish they had and were down to a small amount left from the last pig that was killed.

"Probably, I was thinking about looking for tuna this time, though take whatever we hook." Castle offered.

"Tuna might be nice." Kate liked the sound of it. It was different which was nice.

Castle picked up all the empty plates and empty cans and glass bottles and went inside.

"I am thankful that you two were at that hotel and let me come with you Alexis." Kate was thinking back in time.

"It was dad's paranoia about what was happening that got us to that hotel that night. Our original plan was to drive out to the plane the next morning and come down here to hire the workers and take delivery of the frozen food." Alexis explains a little of that day.

"And we both love having you here. … You're being here has been great, I don't know what I'd do without you. I didn't get raped because of you." Alexis had to admit and knew she was falling in love with Kate, if she wasn't already.

Kate placed a hand on hers. "There was no way I was going to let either of those idiots hurt you Alexis. Not if I had anything to say about it. You mean too much to me now." It was as close as Kate had come yet to saying she was in love with Alexis too.

Then Castle stepped out with a cake in his hands and he was already singing.

"Today is a birthday, I wonder for whom?  
It must be for somebody right in this room.  
So look all around you for somebody who  
Is smiling and happy, my goodness, it's you!

Happy Birthday Kate, from all of us to you,  
Happy Birthday Kate, from all of us to you.  
We congratulate you, and hope all your sweet dreams come true,  
Happy Birthday Kate, from Richard and Alexis too (boom boom.)"

It had Kate grinning wide having never heard that song before in her life. Leave it to Castle to come up with something weird to sing for her birthday.

"Is this what you two have been up to?" Kate just knew they were up to something. "And how did you know?" Kate had every intention of keeping it to herself.

"Your mother's calendar had a day reminder not to stay late since it was your birthday." Castle explains the how part.

This got Alexis to jump up and run inside and come running back outside and hand a card to Kate. "I made it myself." Alexis whispered, nervously.

Kate could tell that Alexis was tense for some reason, just what could she be nervous about? It wasn't her birthday.

Kate opened the handmade piece of paper and noticed Alexis's lovely curvy shape of the words instantly.

"You're not one year older, you're one year wiser, and you affect more people's lives than you think.

And I wish with all my heart that you had been my mother."

It instantly had Kate's hand over her mouth which blocked the sound of her crying, but it did nothing for her tears that started instantly. It also had Kate out of her chair and wrap her arms around Alexis as both of them were now crying.

"Oh honey, you'd be the perfect daughter anyone would love to have and call her own. I don't understand why yours can't see that." Kate just held Alexis close and kept crying.

Castle was the one standing off to one side completely lost as to where this was coming from, however he was happy these two were bonding together so tightly. He wanted so badly to have an adult woman that his daughter could look up to. His mother was his mother, not a mother for his daughter.

Alexis had thought long and hard what to get Kate for her birthday. Alexis finally decided on a birthday card that offered her heart to Kate.

Kate leaned into Alexis's ear. "I would dearly love to have you for a daughter, but you already have a mother honey, and if you'll let me I'll be your best friend."

It wasn't what Alexis was secretly praying for, however Kate hadn't rejected her either. Still it was enough for Alexis for now, so she nodded her head and continued to hold onto Kate and softly cry, plus the future was on her side, she hoped. The two of them had gotten close so Alexis knew she had something to work off of.

Kate had Alexis in her arms pretty much right where she wanted her to be and wondered why she couldn't have been selected to be this young womans mother back when it mattered?

Because you don't let people in, was the answer Kate got back. This could have been my life long ago if I hadn't shut people out and I still don't let people in.

Kate turned to look at Castle and saw him just standing there with a big knife in his hand to cut the cake with, her birthday cake. Her birthday that hadn't been celebrated like this in a very long time, and she had Castle and Alexis to thank for it.

Alexis finally let go of Kate and both of them wiped the tears away and still Castle just stood there with a goofy grin on his face. "Would the birthday girl like to cut the cake?" Castle offered Kate the knife laying it on his opposing arm handle out.

Kate took the knife and noticed that Castle was still smiling at her. Did he know what Alexis had put on her card? "We need plates Castle." Kate points out while standing there with a slice of cake on her hands.

"Oooo, be right back." And Castle runs off into the house.

"Alexis, honey, … does Castle know what you wrote on that card?" Kate knew she didn't have much time.

Alexis shook her head. "It wasn't his heart that was being offered as your birthday present." Alexis tells Kate, looking at Kate still hopeful.

"Alexis, honey, you have a mother already. As much as I would dearly love to be your mother, ..." Kate was spared continuing that thought and Alexis was spared from commenting when Castle came back suddenly with three small plates.

It was just a little later. "This is really good Castle." Kate talks with her mouth full as she puts another fork full of cake in her mouth.

"I cannot take all the credit, but I will if you insist. However Alexis made the frosting." Castle explains.

"When did you find time to make this without me noticing?" Kate was pretty sure she hadn't gone anywhere lately.

"Dad was baking while I found out that you were ticklish." Alexis tells Kate while smiling wide.

Kate immediately chokes on her next bite of cake and turns her head to glare at Castle. "Don't even think about it Castle, there are weapons all over this house and I will shoot you." Kate drinks down the piece of cake that got caught in her throat.

"Dooley noted Becket, duly noted." Castle however was smiling as he stored that information away for later.

"And you young lady, … I still owe you for that." Kate glared at Alexis.

"Bring it on Kate." Alexis challenged her back.

There was a lot of cake left over for tomorrow and the day after.

Alexis and Kate were helping Castle clean up the patio. "Looks like a storm is headed this way." Castle was standing at the outer edge of the patio and looking at the dark clouds in the distance.

"Maybe it will fill our cistern." Alexis offers.

"Might get to turn the A/C units off tonight and get some fresh air into the house." Castle loved the cold air but it tended to get stuffy after a while.

Kate decided now was as good a time as any since Castle had gone into the house and stepped over to Alexis and wrapped her arms around Alexis. "Thank you for the cake and the birthday present. … And I love you too." Kate finally dived in and prayed this would work out.

Alexis was content to soak it up as she tried to melt into Kate. A grown woman who was finally interested in her. Not her father because he was known, not because of his money and not her to get to her father.

"What about dad?" Alexis pushed.

"Alexis, you're not your father and Castle and I are, … complicated." Kate wasn't going down this road.

"But you like dad, you're laughing, having fun, you're letting dad kiss you and even kissing him back now." Alexis counters.

"Alexis Castle, have you been spying on us?" Kate knows she has started kissing Castle back the last few days.

"There's nowhere else to go Kate. … Just admit it, you like dad." Alexis looked up hopeful.

"Liking your father doesn't mean I'm in love with him and going to marry him. That in fact may never happen. … It doesn't mean I won't stop loving you Alexis. You're still an amazing young lady and I'll always be here for you, just like your father." Kate wasn't letting herself fall in love with Castle.

Letting Alexis in was one thing, letting Castle in was another.


	16. Chapter 16

**CH16**

**It is now one month later: (December)**

Kate spent the first couple of weeks stepping out of her bedroom knowing Alexis was already up having heard the shower earlier.

The cistern under the house was full thanks to the late in the season tropical storm that had passed by them and filled it to overflowing, giving them months worth of water.

Kate found Alexis in the kitchen and had taken to hugging Alexis and kissing her head. "Morning honey, have you thought about what we talked about?" Kate asks her.

"Four years of college in Oxford since England has proven to still be infection free." Alexis reminded herself and Kate. "Go to medical college and become a lead medical examiner for a state somewhere, maybe even New York."

"You told me that your father had placed enough money for a four year degree at a top college into a trust that is waiting for you. Oxford is definitely a top college. … Robert did tell us that Oxford is still open during all of this." Kate points out.

"You get to be captain of an entire precinct and I could be the state medical examiner that goes out to murder sites with you. It does sound pretty cool, and I could stay really close to you." Alexis was warming up fast to this idea.

"Hey does this mean you could be detective Jane Rizzoli to my Maura Isles?" Alexis suddenly lights up. Alexis however sees the blank look on Kate's face. "Don't you watch TV? Rizzoli and Isles!?"

"I love that show!" Castle steps into the living room and over hears Alexis. "Morning you two." And Castle steps into the kitchen to hug his daughter and kiss her head and then switch to Kate and hug Kate and give Kate a quick chaste kiss to her lips, getting Alexis to smile at Kate with a knowing smile.

Kate however only glares at Alexis with her best. 'I'm not in love with your father' look. Alexis however wasn't buying it and Kate could see it on Alexis's face.

"So why are we discussing Rizzoli and Isles?" Castle questions and he pulls out a slice of homemade bread and the Tupperware that had their homemade jam in it.

"Kate is trying to talk me into attending Oxford since it is the only college we know of that is still open." Alexis offers smiling since Kate was at least trying to resurrect her dream of going to college after this world wide fiasco of a nightmare.

"You're trying to send my favorite daughter away from me to live in England? … I don't think I love you anymore." Castle acts hurt.

"DAD, I'm your only daughter." Alexis points out not paying attention to the I love you part.

Kate however had heard what Castle had said and was standing there gaping at him not sure she had heard correctly.

"Don't change the subject, England is a long ways away pumpkin. You'll be on your own all the way over there." Castle wasn't ready to let go of his little girl just yet.

"My first choice was Stanford, Oxford is just as far away." Alexis counters.

"At least Stanford is in the same country and a quick plane flight away." Castle argues.

"A 2 hour layover in Chicago or longer because O'Hare is snowed in is really fast while a flight to Heathrow is non-stop from New York or even Miami. Yeah good planning dad." Alexis rolls her eyes.

Castle had seen that look somewhere, however his mind was still on Alexis going to England.

"Don't confuse me with your female logic. At least at Stanford I wouldn't have to go through customs. … And what's so wrong with Columbia, Cornell or St. Johns?" Castle asks being serious.

"Because you don't live in New York anymore." Alexis points out.

"O-kay, … University of Miami, Florida International, USF." Castle offers, with neither of them noticing that Kate was still standing there shell shocked.

"Because Oxford is ranked second for colleges in medicine while Stanford is ranked fourth and the U isn't even in the top ten, that's why." Alexis stands her ground.

Castle stood there shell shocked. Just where did all of this self-confidence come from in his little girl? KATE! "You've been spending too much time around Beckett, she's corrupted you.

See what you've done Beckett." Castle turns to look at Kate knowing he was losing. "Beckett? … Earth to Beckett?" Castle snaps his fingers in front of Kate's face.

Kate shakes her head. "What?" And keeps staring at Castle.

"Oxford is your idea." Castle dares her to deny it.

"Oxford is on Alexis's list of top colleges and it's a good one for medical. It also happens to still be open during all of this nightmare in the world." Kate argues back, since she had every intention of defending Alexis.

"Alexis is growing up Castle, she gets to spread her wings. You should be proud of her; she's an amazing young woman." Kate defends Alexis.

"I am proud of her; it's just that I could be more proud of her if she was closer to home." Castle groans.

"You live on an island Castle, 300 miles from Miami. All the best medical colleges are pretty far from home now." Kate points out a flaw in his thinking.

Castle squeezes his eyes closed, maybe this new plan wasn't the greatest idea he had ever had. Still it did have a good chance of success, especially after all of the travel agencies the two of them had contracted.

Just that that was before the world got taken over by zombies.

"Alexis will be fine Castle, you've done an excellent job with her." Kate actually steps in close and kisses his cheek, getting Castle to grin wide. Kate however hasn't yet seen Alexis smiling wide while looking at her yet.

Kate was defending her, something her mother would never have dreamed of doing, plus she had kissed her dad. It was on the cheek, but it was still a kiss, and she had noticed her dad kissing Kate. Not that Kate was kissing him back each time just that it was becoming more frequent.

"Yeah, you say that now. … You weren't there for the early years." Castle counters.

"DAD!" Alexis took exception to every having done anything bad.

"Are you implying that Alexis was a bad girl when she was young?" Kate glared at him.

"I'm, … I'm, I better go pig hunting if we want BBQ baby back ribs or pork shoulder and bacon for breakfast again." Castle makes a hasty retreat out the back patio door and heads for the storage building and his crossbow.

"You better run Castle." Kate calls after him. Honestly suggesting that her daughter had ever been bad when she was little.

(Wait, where did that my daughter thought come from? No, no, she's not my daughter. It's just that if I did ever have one I would want her to be just like Alexis.)

Kate shook her head to clear it. "Breakfast?" Kate turned back to Alexis to get back to where they were before Castle had shown up.

It was hours later and Castle came back with a dead pig in his trailer and got to work cutting it up into various parts. Kate was helping this time and it had her mouth watering just thinking about having bacon in the morning again, as well as putting baby back ribs and shoulders into the smoker.

Pig guts and blood went into bags and into the freezer for when they went shark fishing again.

"How goes the writing Castle?" Kate asks as she presses the button on the vacuum bag system and watches all the air get sucked out.

"Almost finished the last chapter actually, maybe 20 more pages to go I think. I'm still trying to work out the ending in my mind and get it onto paper. So it may be the next to last chapter. I don't know just yet but I'm close." Castle answers her question.

"That's great dad!" Alexis was excited and by the look on Kate's face, so was she.

"I'll download it onto a flash drive so you can plug it into your own laptop pumpkin." Castle offers since he didn't want to use up the paper or ink to print it all out.

This got Kate to kiss Castle in front of Alexis soundly this time, putting what she felt about that news behind the kiss. "I'll write you 50 books if I get that each time." Castle smiled at Kate.

"If it's any good you may get your wish Castle." Kate smiled at him.

"In that case I'm going to go finish writing and let you two finish up here." Castle informs them both.

Alexis was putting the last of it in the freezer and came back out to Kate who had her service weapon in hand. "Get your SIG out of the drawer, we still have some cleaning to do on that new boat and I'm guessing you would like to check on the plane." Kate explains.

"Can we check the plane first, it'll only take a minute or two." Alexis takes her SIG out of the kitchen drawer and checks the clip, slapping it back into place and pulling the slide back and making sure the safety was on.

"Let's go." Kate had finished doing what Alexis had just done.

The plane turned out to be secure and untouched. The three of them had been nervous for days when they found another big boat on one of their beaches. Since it was devoid of any food they were guessing it must have broken free of its mooring and drifted all the way out to them until they found it.

Put just enough gas in it and moved it around to the dock area where the other four boats were located.

It was obviously someone's boat at one time, since it was fully stocked in the kitchen and had clothes onboard for 2 adults and 3 kids of different sizes. From the pictures in the master bedroom it was obviously 3 boys. The oldest looked to be a young teen. It was a really nice boat too. Castle was guessing over $1 million easy.

2004 OCEAN Super Sport, The 62' is probably the best model that Ocean ever built! Incredible sea boat with tremendous spce and comfort and the maneuverability of a much smaller fisherman. This boat was originally the factory demo and probably the most, well equipped 62' ever built.

Kate had fallen in love with the boat when they boarded it. It was well appointed inside and was lovely. The master bedroom was big and the other bedroom had 2 twin beds. It was nice even if Flash was still her favorite.

"Have you figured out what to get your father for Christmas?" Kate asks as they are searching the new boat again and looking it over.

"I think so. … It's hard to figure out what to get both of you. Access to things is so limited." Alexis was having trouble, mostly with what to get Kate.

"I know the feeling. After mom died dad and I just stopped celebrating Christmas. Dad would disappear up to our cabin to get away from everyone and I would offer to work the holidays. I didn't have anyone to celebrate with or a reason to enjoy the season, so I gave my time so other officers could have the day off." Kate explains her holidays.

Kate instantly had Alexis's arms wrapped around her. "I'm sorry Kate, I know you were close to your mother. Now she's not here to see you accomplish your goals or make the pain go away. … But you've got us now. You feel like family now." Alexis explains.

"I know Alexis, honey. I'm glad I'm here now too." Kate hugged her back and kissed her head.

"Even dad?" Alexis couldn't help but question. It looked to her like Kate and her dad were getting closer.

It got Kate to chuckle. "Yes, even your father." Kate kissed Alexis's head again.

It was only a couple of days later when Kate and Alexis came back in the Flash with their latest catch of catfish. It had however taken them a long time to catch them. "These might be the last for a while, I think we're over fishing our locations."

Castle already had the grill warming up and was just sitting at the breakfast bar watching Kate and his daughter do the cooking for a change. "BBQ catfish for a Christmas Eve dinner, no snow, no tree not even one Christmas light, not fireplace to hang stockings. It's not even cold outside." Castle moans.

"Not Christmas enough for you Castle?" Kate smiled while she cleaned the fish.

"You want to see us celebrate Christmas Beckett, you should have been in the loft last season. … We had two Christmas trees, life size nutcrackers, enough garland to turn anyplace green, glass snowflakes hanging from the ceiling, enough stickies on the windows they almost blocked out the sun.

You want Christmas, you should be at our house." Castle was proud of what he did to the loft in the past.

"What no mistletoe Castle?" Kate teases.

"Enough to make you lips fall of from fatigue." Castle offers.

"Guess you haven't seen what my lips can do yet Castle." Kate teases and watches Castle's shocked face and his inability to speak.

"Elf got your tongue Castle?" Kate teases while swiveling her hips. "Maybe you can write to Santa to have him give you one for Christmas." Kate was on a roll and was smiling wide.

"So what did you get me for Christmas Beckett?" If Kate was willing to talk maybe she wouldn't stop.

"Wouldn't you like to know Castle." Kate was smiling wider now.

"You show me yours and I'll show you mine?" Castle leaned forward.

"How elementary of you Castle. You're a writer I expected better of you." Kate leaned in closer and stopped cleaning her fish.

"I'll use Alexis's color crayons and draw you some mistletoe." Castle offers and leans in closer till his lips are just an inch from Kate's.

"Chapstick." Kate whispers out.

Castle's eyes go wide. "Chapstick?"

"I'm not kissing those lips. They're dried and chapped. It's like kissing a brick." Kate tells him.

It had Castle up and running for his bathroom in search of Chapstick. It did however leave Kate smiling wide and Alexis laughing her ass off.

"What are you laughing about?" Kate asks, not caring that Alexis had heard that entire conversation.

"We sell Chapstick down in the store." Alexis manages to get out between laughs, and soon they both see Castle running back into the area and out the door that lead to the store on the other island.

That now had Kate laughing as hard as Alexis was. "Are you going to kiss dad?" Alexis asks after she recovers and gets air in her lungs.

"Alexis! Are you asking me to tell first before kissing?" Kate was still teasing.

"So you are going to kiss dad." Alexis glares at Kate with her hands on her hips.

Kate replayed what she had said and knew she had been caught. It did get Kate to open her mouth as she tried to come up with a remark for that, only to close it again since she came up empty. "Maybe." Kate finally caved.

"Shut up and get back to work, I'm hungry." Kate went back to working on her fish with a little extra energy. And a little later Kate was smiling wide when Castle sat back down and placed a tube of Chapstick, cherry flavored down on the breakfast bar.

Dinner was over and Castle had cleaned up everything and everyone was full, which was a good thing since they had eaten the last of Kate's birthday cake weeks ago. Now they were just sitting outside staring at the night sky filled with stars.

Stars you didn't see living in New York City since the city lights drowned them all out.

"I miss the city, but I could get used to seeing this each night." Kate offered. If she didn't think about it being Christmas she felt better. It also gave Kate time to think about where she was.

Kate knew she loved Alexis like a daughter and really did wish that Alexis was hers and that she had given birth to her. She was an amazing young woman and would dearly love to take at least partial credit for that.

Kate also knew that she was falling in love with Castle. His child like mannerisms was part of what made her smile and learn to laugh again. However it was also this same thing that tested her patience. It also didn't hurt that Alexis kept telling her all these stories or little insights into the mind of one Richard Castle.

Still it was Castle and Alexis that had brought her back into the land of the living. And now that she was here she wanted to keep it, and that brought her back to it being Christmas. "Do we wait for Santa?" Kate asks, meaning do they stay up all night and maybe catch a glimpse of him.

"I can't wait." Castle jumps up and runs inside.

"We usually open presents Christmas morning, finding out what Santa brought us." Alexis explains Castle tradition. However she also knew her dad was a kid at heart, and that part of him only got bigger at Christmas.

Alexis however was missing snow, tree, lights, garland and everything she did with her father to help decorate the loft. All of the stuff was supposed to be on one of the boats that would come out with food for the freezers and other things. Now she had no idea where all that stuff was.

Castle was soon back, but didn't sit down. "We don't have any Christmas paper so I couldn't wrap them. I couldn't even find a suitable box small enough for them to use the Christmas paper on." Castle was a little sad about that.

"Soooo, here is your Christmas present and this one is yours." Castle hands over a small flash drive stick to each of them. Kate got Batman and Alexis got Iron Man. "I thought about using R2D2 and Yoda, but these seemed to fit better." Castle shrugged his shoulders.

'DAD! … Does this mean, …." Alexis couldn't finish her question.

"It really needs to be edited by someone, but this is the book you two wanted me to write. I've even got notes I'm going to use for the next one. I think it's some of my best work yet." Castle was smiling.

"You can plug it into your laptop pumpkin and I left my laptop in Kate's room for her to use. It was too much to print it all out so you need to read it using a laptop." Castle explains.

Kate was simply sitting there with her mouth hanging open. Her mother and Castle's idea of how she died and who killed her based off of her mother's journal that some guy in the CIA had deciphered was all on this little memory stick she had in her hand.

Right or wrong it was more than Kate had ever had before in her life. Years of her trying to solve her death just might be in her hand.

It finally got Kate moving out of her chair and wrap her arms around Castle and kiss him openly, not caring that Alexis was watching or what she would say later. Likely tease her about it. It's just that this was big. Like really big.

After breaking from the kiss, Kate started grinning and lifted the flash drive over both of their heads. "Electronic mistletoe." Kate offers.

It did what Kate intended, it got Castle to kiss her softly and deeply as each sought out the taste of the other. It was a kiss that took Kate's breath away and left her panting and wanting more, so with her arms wrapped around Castle's neck, she did just that. Kissed him again.

Kate broke from the kiss and placed her lips at Castle's ear. "Thank you, you're an amazing man." Kate whispers softly and follows by kissing his ear.

"I'm going to go read." Kate tells both of them and removes herself from Castle's arms and strides inside and into her bedroom. "You two will get your Christmas presents in the morning." Kate calls out over her shoulder before closing the patio door.

"WOW DAD!" Alexis was staring at her father.

"I need to write more books." Castle stood there slightly shocked. He was falling for Kate fast, he just didn't think she had any interest in him like that, even if they had been teasing each other a fair amount lately.

Alexis got up because she wanted to go read too. "I'll see you in the morning dad. … And dad, don't give up on Kate. I think she's trying." Alexis patted his arm and went inside leaving Castle outside alone.

Castle sat down and contemplated what he could do to gauge Kate's interest in him. Back in New York, he knew what to do. There were places to go, things to see. Out here they were stuck on an island.

Maybe a boat ride to one of the other islands that were in this chain? They hadn't actually gotten very far from home since they got here. Partly out of fear of those 'things'. Maybe it was time to risk it.

Start loading up one of the boats so they could stay away for the day and maybe the night.

Castle finally went inside and got a glass of water and put some ice in it and was standing in the kitchen sipping. **"NIKKI HEAT!? WHAT KIND OF NAME IS NIKKI HEAT!?" **Kate was yelling from her room.


	17. Chapter 17

**CH17**

**It is now New Years day:**

"Hi, I found some tea downstairs." Jim offers and sits down next to her.

"Thanks." Martha picks it up and starts sipping. It obviously wasn't one of her favorite flavors, just beggars couldn't be choosy so she kept sipping.

"They're suppose to check in soon." Jim offers.

"Has Katherine told you anything? I know you told me that she is a private person, it's just I can't help but wonder if she has opened up any. I know my son can be a handful, I'm just hoping that Alexis is running interference between them." Martha had listened to everything Jim had to say about Katherine and Johanna over the last several months, after they both found out that their children were on an island together.

"I don't know how she feels about Rick. It's not like she is going to tell her father that she has found a boy that she likes. Her mother yes, me, not a chance.

I do know that she sounds a lot more happy lately. I can almost see and feel her smiling over the phone. Even the pictures they send of themselves shows that Katie doesn't look as serious as she used to. And living her life wearing a bikini all day." Jim was still processing that one.

"I know I'm reading in-between the lines, but the way she talks about Alexis and what she thinks of her mother makes me think she thinks a lot of that young woman." Jim confides.

"Alexis is a darling, she is the only good thing to come out of my son's first marriage. That woman was a complete waste of space. I've kicked myself so hard since the first time I ever got them together.

It's just that Richard was so lost after Kyra left him. I thought he would just have a little fun and move on quickly. Get his life back and learn to like it again. Then he comes home and tells me that she was pregnant.

I'm ashamed to admit that at first I didn't think it was Richard's child. I went behind his back to have a paternity check using DNA I got from Alexis when I was baby sitting one time." Martha confides.

"Does your son know?" Jim asks, only to watch Martha shake her head.

"The test came back positive so I didn't see the need." Martha confides.

Jim could only shake his head, happy that his Katie was nothing like this Meredith. "Katie has closed herself off from almost everyone, she doesn't risk her heart for anyone. I haven't helped her with that." Jim was still kicking himself over how he had reacted.

"Don't beat yourself up Jim, you lost the love of your life. You're supposed to be hurting, its expected." Martha reminds him again.

"Still disappearing into the bottom of a whiskey bottle was a bad choice." Jim knew he was still only one drink away from screwing it all up again.

They both soon had smiles on their faces when Espo came walking towards them carrying his cell phone and handed it over to Jim. "Katie?"

"Hi dad, just our weekly check-in to see how things are going." Kate tells him, not knowing Jim had put the phone on speaker.

"We're down to one main meal each day, it's good so we're not starving and the water is still running somehow and they keep pouring gas into the generators so I guess we still have some." Jim offers, still not willing to talk about their living conditions, as he looks out across the 4th floor that he, Martha and a lot of others had been assigned to.

There were TV's spread out all over and each one had a DVD player connected to it. However now that they were on emergency power only select TV's actually worked anymore and those were mostly for the children. They even had an X-box however it was on a different floor.

It was beginning to have the feel of a prison with the only outside access they had was going up to the roof to move around, until it got dark.

Kate had gotten most of a complete breakdown from Espo already and she felt guilty about how her and the Castle's were living, even if they were going to start to have serious trouble in about 5 months or less.

"I'm still just glad you're safe dad, what we've been hearing from the guy in Alaska and England isn't sounding optimistic." Robert had stopped hearing from his guy in Poland recently, it had been 3 weeks.

"Tell me your doing good Katie, that's all I care about." Jim would suffer all he had to if it meant his daughter was good.

"We're fine dad, we exchanged Christmas presents even. It was a lot of fun Castle and Alexis have been amazing, I'm glad to have them. … I'm going to give the phone back to Alexis so she can talk to Martha now. … I love and miss you dad." Kate was missing all of her friends.

"Girl is that you?" Lanie yelled out over the cell phone getting Kate and Alexis to start laughing.

"You sound a lot better Kate Beckett, I need details girl. How are you and Castle getting along?" Lanie knew Kate was alone with hunk Castle and was still praying Kate would open her eyes.

"Castle and I are fine Lanie." Kate rolled her eyes since Lanie still sounded like Lanie.

"Dad and Kate are kissing." Alexis yells from the edge of the desk in the office.

"ALEXIS HARPER CASTLE!" Kate was going to shoot her for that.

"I'm going to put them on one of the boats and un-tie it from the dock soon so it would force them to talk to each other so they could finally both admit, ..." The sound on Lanie, Martha and Jim's end suddenly stopped, however the phone said they were still connected.

"Kate put the phone on mute." Lanie explains looking at the faces of Martha and Jim.

"Is grams there Jim?" Alexis asks.

"I'm right here dear." Martha speaks up. "What is your father doing?" Martha wanted just as much information as Lanie did.

"He's kissing Kate almost constantly, it just doesn't look like their talking to each other." Alexis was ready to shoot both of them.

"Pushing Katie will only get her to push back in the opposite direction, until she see's it for herself Katie will never act on it." Jim tells her.

"Am I on speaker phone?" Alexis asks with a shocked face.

"How close are you to Katie honey?" Jim asks, thinking Alexis may be able to push her a little.

Alexis fidgets in the office chair holding the phone to her ear all alone since Kate had run for it earlier.

"Yes." Alexis answers softly. "We've been talking a lot. Kate is terrific." The mother she had always wished for even if Kate wasn't really.

Martha covered the phone. "They're close Jim, really close." Martha knew her granddaughter.

"Alexis honey if you love her, here is what you need to do." And Jim proceeds to offer Alexis his idea for a plan. "Good luck honey." Jim offers at the end.

"You three stay safe darling, I love you and your father." Martha offers before Jim hangs up the phone.

"Will it work?" Martha looks at Jim.

"Katie is stubborn like her mother, until someone or some event slaps her in her face she'll either ignore it or run. She has to feel like she has reached the conclusion for herself." Jim answers, not sure even his plan will work.

"I've been after Kate for years, but she won't listen. That girl is dying to be happy but just won't let herself be happy." Lanie adds her history.

"What a pair, Richard is gun shy from two marriages he should never been in, in the first place, and Kate who won't let anyone in and love her. … At least their trapped on the same island." Martha was thankful for that.

Alexis decided to put Jim's plan into motion immediately afraid that if she waited and thought about it, she wouldn't do it.

"Boat ride anyone?" Alexis asks looking at Rick sitting on the sofa and Kate just coming in from outside.

"Which boat?" Kate asks knowing which one she was willing to go out in.

"Flash naturally." Alexis responds smiling, figuring Kate would jump at it. Alexis just had to muscle Kate out of the drivers seat. "Come on dad!" Alexis grabs her father's hands and starts pulling until he is standing, though Alexis stop at just that. She had to get him in the boat, then she would relax a little for a short time.

It turned out to be easier than she thought to get Kate out of the drivers seat, since getting Kate to stand up front and face the wind had worked out nicely.

They had been out for about an hour when Alexis beached the boat and got dad to go look for a banana tree, thinking fresh fruit would get him out of the boat, while Kate was walking the beach looking for sea shells that maybe their island didn't have.

As soon as the two of them were far enough away Alexis wrapped up her SIG, bag of jerky and a single bottle of water inside a couple of towels and threw them out onto the beach and then fired up the boat and backed off of the beach. Listening to first Kate and then Rick come running and yelling at her.

Alexis didn't even wave but just drove off leaving the two of them behind. "This better work Jim, or I'm dead." Alexis looked up at the sky as she drove the boat home.

Alexis knew how to cook so for the next two days she didn't starve, though she didn't get much sleep either. Still this scared Alexis so she was on the phone with Espo at first on the second day till Jim was on the phone.

"You sure this is a good plan? They could have talked to each other just as easily here." Alexis points out.

"Hold firm honey they weren't talking there because they are comfortable not talking to each other, this way they don't have a choice." Jim tells her again.

"They're going to be mad when I go get them." Alexis points out.

"And just how mad will tell if it worked or not. Two whole days honey, you can go get them late on the third day. Just don't forget to call and tell us how it went." Jim pleads since neither himself, Martha or Lanie were sleeping well worried about how this would work.

Alexis was up the morning of the third day and was finding that being alone was un-nerving and lonely, she wanted someone to talk to. "Maybe Jim is right." Because Alexis wanted company.

Alexis finished an early dinner on the third day, cleaned up and grabbed a couple bottles of water and another bag of jerky and walked for Flash. "KEYS!" Alexis cursed and ran back inside to retrieve the keys.

Alexis was soon idling her way to beaching the boat in the same place as last time and sat there and waited.

It took a little time before Kate and Castle emerged from the brush since the palm trees were a little far and few between. Alexis was still amazed her father had fallen for it. Maybe he temporarily forget where banana's came from.

However Alexis was soon beaming because Kate and her father were walking slowly for her, HAND IN HAND. Plus Kate had her wrap flapping in the breeze in her other hand. As they got closer she could see that they were both smiling.

Alexis watched them both get in the boat with Castle helping Kate in and Kate letting him. However they were both silent and sat side by side at the end of the boat and let Alexis back them all off the beach and all the way back home.

Alexis was left on the dock to tie the boat in place as Kate and Castle walked for the house leaving her behind.

Alexis took the keys and went into the store and grabbed the final case of popcorn, locked up and headed for the house.

Alexis didn't see either of them when she got inside but put the popcorn in the pantry for later. Even to Alexis the dry food pantry looked half empty, they needed to come up with a plan in a couple of months.

An island might be safe, but it was a poor place to grow food.

Alexis found them out on the back patio cooking something on the grill while standing next to each other talking. Alexis just stood at the door and watched them talk. Their body language didn't indicate that they were mad at each other. "I'm getting the silent treatment." Alexis glared at them, not that they were looking her way.

Alexis pulled out her phone and was soon passed from Espo to Jim. "They walked for the boat hand in hand, they didn't say a word all the way home. Now they're out back cooking on the grill and giving me the silent treatment." Alexis explains.

"Is Katie standing up straight like she has a strip of stainless steel strapped to her back or does she look relaxed?" Jim asks.

Alexis watches them talk to each other with their backs to her. Her father had a hand at the small of her back and was softly rubbing in a tight circle, while Kate was shifting her weight from foot to foot.

"Dad looks comfortable while Kate looks nervous." Alexis answers his question.

"I think we may have a break through than. It sounds like Katie is working out what has happened and looking for confirmation from Rick. I suggest you go to bed early and let them talk. You might get an answer out of them by morning." Jim offers.

"Thanks, it sounds like a good plan." Alexis wasn't ready to confront them over what happened and what she had done, even if it was Jim's plan.

Alexis hung up the phone and only stood around long enough to see Kate lean her head onto her father's shoulder. It had her grinning wide as she jogged for her bedroom and start dreaming what this meant.

"Now what happens when we finally need to leave here?" Alexis asks herself as she climbs into bed.

Kate was slowly waking up and started blinking her eyes open and started stretching her sleepy muscles and moved an arm to the other side of the bed and found it warm and empty. Telling her that it hadn't been that way for long.

Kate wasn't in the least bit worried about where he was. There was a time long ago when not finding the guy having stayed the night with her both a good thing and a lonely thing. It's just that she buried the lonely part deep inside herself and was usually happy that the bed was empty. However those times were gone now.

Now knowing that he was still around here somewhere brought a smile to her face. Something else that she hadn't done in a long, long time. SMILE! Kate didn't have much to smile about before.

It was only moments and she could hear people talking, and that got her smiling even wider, since it was obvious from the tone of the happy voices just who was doing the talking. It also brought to her mind what happened last night, that got her smiling even wider.

(Why did I wait so long? What we have is so special. Why couldn't I just have opened up earlier? I could have saved myself so much heartache. However I'm there now and I'm not giving it up. Not for any reason. Any reason at all.)

Kate started playing back what happened in her mind, while she swung her legs over the side of the bed throwing the thin bed sheet off of her. It was warm so they didn't need the comforter that was at the foot of the bed.

Hell it was always warm here, and it was almost always sunny too, unless one of the rain storms came through that they really needed to fill the fresh water cistern that was under the house.

Kate made her way to the bathroom buck naked and looked at herself in the mirror. The trip had shown that she was sore in places that she hadn't been sore in for a long time. This knowledge also brought a smile to her face. Because it was a good kind of sore, a kind of sore that with some more practice wouldn't ever be sore again. And there was going to be lots of practice in her future, lots and lots of practice.

Kate didn't even recognize the woman in the mirror. Her long hair was a mess, but there was a reason for that. However she also had a really deep tan. Actually everyone had a deep tan now. Her tan however was because of a different reason. Her breasts weren't as tanned as the rest of her, however they were tanned. Now under her bikini bottom was another question. That area was clearly white.

That reason had Kate smiling even wider and at this rate if she kept it up her face was going to break.

(If only Lanie could see me now!)

Lanie would likely break her ear drums with her scream and then break countless ribs as she hugged Kate.

Kate had stepped out of the shower and dried her hair and applied a minimal amount of make-up. Very minimal since neither of them had very much left, with not much chance of getting any more anytime soon.

Kate slipped into one of her bikinis and put on a wrap around her waist and slipped her feet into her flip flops. Flip flops and her bikini was one more thing that had changed in her life. It was the primary reason she had such a deep tan. Kate didn't even miss her high heel boots anymore, even if they were still around here somewhere.

Kate left her service weapon lying on the night stand. In different circumstances it would be locked up somewhere, but these were not normal circumstances. In fact they had weapons stored all over the place and all of them knew how to shoot, Kate had even helped all of them learn how to shoot better. Mildly surprised that the two of them already knew how to shoot, even Alexis. Alexis just wasn't as good at it as her father or herself.

Kate headed for the door to join the others, not caring anymore what it looked like with her coming out of his bedroom into the family room with the open kitchen just off to one side, with another kitchen out off the back patio. Kate's heart was flying and she was fairly certain her feet weren't touching the ground.

Kate knew today she was going to use the phone and get an update on everyone she had left behind and prayed that she would see all of them again, Kate just didn't know when that day would be. That phone was her one lifeline to her old life and all the friends she had been forced to leave behind.

It also took her back in time as she opened the bedroom door to the questions and looks that were going to come her way, not that she cared anymore, she was happy, so very damn happy and everyone in this room was responsible for that.

Kate stepped out into the living room and all of the talking stopped, which was a little unnerving, still Kate expected some kind of reaction.

Alexis was trying to look small and didn't move closer to Kate. "Not mad?" Alexis asked softly.

Kate stepped over to Alexis. "I should probably shoot you. … Come here." And Kate opened her arms wide and let Alexis step into them so Kate could hug hear and kiss her head.

Alexis did her best to melt into Kate, it had been 16 long years without a motherly hug so Alexis was willing to take what she could get. "Your dad will be happy it worked out too." Alexis didn't think that comment through before it escaped out of her lips.

"**MY DAD!?** … What has my dad got to do with this?" Kate pulled back to look at Alexis while still holding onto her.

"It was sort of his idea to maroon you two on that island." Alexis tries to shrink away again. It did however get Castle to start laughing.

"Eerrr, I am so going to shoot my father when I get home. … Where's that phone?" And Kate looks around and spots Alexis's phone sitting on the breakfast bar.

Kate has snatched it up and started dialing Espo's number only to have Castle snatch the phone out of her hand. "HEY, give that back Castle. I can't shoot by dad but I can sure give him a piece of my mind." Kate makes a play for the phone in Castle's hand a couple of times.

"Relax Kate, if there is anyone that should be mad or scared it should be me. After all he hasn't even met me and he did this." Rick points between the two of them. "Besides when was the last time your father approved of the boy you brought home for your parents to meet?"

Kate was silent for a moment as she thought that one over. "Never." Kate answered softly, realizing now just how big having her father dream up this plan really was.

"He doesn't know anything about me and he still came up with this plan. … Speaking of which, what did he offer you to go along with this plan?" Rick turns on his daughter.

Alexis could see both Kate and her dad staring at her. (Oh I am so dead.)

"I'm, … I'm going to go check the chlorine level in the pool." Alexis starts backing up and makes a break for the patio door leading outside.

However she stops just as she opens the door. "And Grams was with Jim when he told me about the plan." Alexis steps outside and closes the door.

It left Rick standing there shocked. "My mother was in on this?" Rick questions as he watches Alexis disappear from sight.

Rick turned to look at Kate who presently looked like he was sure he did right now. Mouth on the floor, eyes wide open.

Their parents came up with this plan to get the two of them together!? Like seriously?

"We need to come up with a plan Castle, something ingenious and cunning. Something sneaky and underhanded, something they will never see coming.

You're a writer; write up a plan that will deal with your mother and my dad." Kate steps and kisses his lips quickly and then heads for the kitchen to make breakfast. Kate knew both of them were still starving with only a bag of jerky for 3 days.

It did however leave Rick standing there still in shock. Just what was his mother telling Jim?

Something devious and cunning. Something that also involved his daughter since she was the one that abandoned them on that island, with 2 towels, a bag of jerky and a single bottle of water for 3 days.

Yeah, those three were going to get it alright, and how!


	18. Chapter 18

**CH18**

Kate and Rick were sitting on the sofa with Kate leaning her head on Rick's shoulder when Alexis finally came back inside and made a beeline for the refrigerator to get some water.

Alexis was soon standing in front of both of them with her water. "Have you finished dad's book?" Alexis asks looking at Kate.

That got Kate to lift her head off of Rick's shoulder. "I have actually. … I'm having trouble deciding what is fiction and what is based on fact." Kate knew some of it had to be fiction, just what parts.

"O-kay." Alexis sat down on the coffee table and looked at both of them. "Let's take some of the key points and go over them one by one.

Your mom was working on a case to get someone out of prison that was wrongly accused." Alexis starts off with.

"A mobster who is obviously guilty." Kate starts off.

"All mobsters are guilty, but don't most high level mobsters hire someone to do their killing for them. Makes it harder to pin them for the murder." Alexis counters.

"There are dirty cops and a dirty commissioner and a dirty prosecutor." Kate moves on.

"It helps explain how Montgomery can afford to buy dad's beach house." Alexis points out.

"He's my boss, my mentor. He helped me with my captain's exam, helped me learn how to run a precinct. You're asking me to believe a man I trust that he is dirty, let alone involved in my mother's murder." Kate points out.

"Your mother's notes pegged three NYPD people were involved. She just didn't name them. One cop, the police commissioner and a prosecutor would fill that bill." Rick points out.

"The commissioner and the mayor hired me to replace Montgomery when he retired. Why would they give me even more power if they were guilty?" Kate didn't see the connection.

"You keep your friends close and your enemies, ..." Rick offers.

"And they in turn take orders from someone or in this case a group of someones." Kate passes that topic by for now.

"A group of business men who are generating money for one or more political candidates." Kate moves on to the next topic.

"And which political positions are the most influential? President, Secretary of State and Chief of Staff." Alexis ticks off the list in Rick's book.

"With a military man that is selected as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs." Kate lists off the last of the top bad guys.

"Who supplies the highly skilled and extensively trained killers." Alexis points out.

"And since voters are a fickle group there is no guarantee that one of them makes President. Which is where one of these hired killers comes into play because one of them IS at least going to be the vice president." Kate points out a part of Rick's book. "And when the president is assassinated, ..."

"And as President he fires and hires who he pleases, presto they are in charge of the United States and everything it does." Alexis points out the plot.

"Except for one precinct captain who smells a rat and with the help of her tag along journalist is threatening all of their hard work and plans.

And what kind of name is Nikki Heat?" Kate punches Rick's arm.

Rick rubs his hurt upper arm area. "It's a cop name." Rick counters.

"It's a stripper's name Castle, and you're changing it before you publish it." Kate admonishes him.

"Kate is right dad. Cop by day and practically escort prostitute by night." Alexis didn't know her dad could write stuff like that.

Rick jerked his head to look at Alexis. "How do you know about that? I wrote two different versions and gave Kate the more graphic version and yours was more tame." Rick hadn't meant for his daughter to read that. She was 16 years old for Christ's sake.

Alexis shook her head. "That was really, … I didn't know you wrote that kind of stuff dad. That was pornographic." Alexis had even skipped over parts of it.

"CASTLE!?" Kate turned to glare at him.

"Honest I didn't mean to, I actually did write two different versions. That's part of why it took so long. …. I'm sorry pumpkin I never meant for you to read all that." Rick was ready to shoot himself.

"It's ok dad, I did skip over most of that. … Most of it anyway." Alexis tilts her head left and right a little.

"You made her breaking the corrupt cop the key to everything Castle." Kate points out.

"He was the weak link. His killing off the military trained hired killers with help from Nikki and Rook was the turning point. After that it just kind of all fell apart." Rick points out.

They were all quite for a time. "I don't know Castle. It means Montgomery is dirty, and that's just so hard to believe." Kate couldn't get past it.

"It explains the money to buy my beach house. He decides to retire and has you take his place, making you too busy to investigate your mother's murder. You have to divide your time over an entire precinct. You're so busy you don't have time to investigate them, him or her." Rick points out. "The money to buy the house is keep quiet money." Rick points out. Or at least it is in his book.

"So why are they generating money for the politicians? The Senate has control over what bills are passed not the President. Granted he has veto power." Kate questions.

"True, except in this case they are interested in what comes into the US and what goes out." Alexis points out.

"And gain control over the FBI and CIA by placing the directors that will do as they're told in charge." Rick points out.

"It's complex Castle, really complex." Kate points out.

"And when Nikki gets the first domino to fall all of the others fall with it." Rick points out.

"It's a good book Castle, one of your best." Kate points out.

"You've read my books?" Rick pulls back from Kate and looks at her.

Kate meant it as a simple compliment, however now she sees the trap that it put her in.

"Your Derek Storm series was in the top 10 for each book Castle. Lots of people know about your books." Kate side steps, or at least tries to.

"You're a fan aren't you? … Did you read any of my earlier books? …. Are you on the Richard Castle website? …. Did you come to any of my book signings?" Now Castle was in deep thought trying to think back.

"Which book did I sign, where was it? What book store?" Think Rick, think.

He came up empty. He hadn't done any book signings after he killed off Storm. There were so many book stores and so many people. "WAIT!" And Rick jumped up and ran for his bedroom.

He was soon back sitting on the sofa again and holding a picture of Johanna up next to Kate's head. "You look so much like her now." Castle points out, getting Alexis to get up and stand behind her dad to look at Kate and the picture.

Then Rick's eyes got big. "You did come to one of my book signings. Why didn't I see it earlier? You were young and had your hair long like it is now. Except you had it all tied up in a ponytail behind you." Rick thought harder.

"I even met your mother! … You were both there. … I wrote something. I didn't just sign my name like I did for all the others. I wrote some comment. … It was short. Something about justice I think.

It was so fast and so long ago. You would have been somewhere around Alexis's age now." Rick pulled the picture of Johanna back down and looked at it again. Really looked at it, with fresh eyes and a new understanding.

"I met your mother. … The two of you never came back. I never saw the two of you at another signing again.

I can remember going to book stores and kept looking up hoping to see the two of you again. I had so many questions, I just don't remember why anymore." Rick was still looking down at the picture of Johanna so he hadn't seen the tears that were forming on Kate's face yet.

Alexis however had and was soon sitting next to Kate on the other side and wrapped her arms around Kate from the side. "She died shortly after, didn't she?" Alexis whispered.

Kate wrapped her arms around Alexis. "I was a flat chested 15 year old when my mother dragged me down there. We stood in line for 2 hours waiting for our turn.

Mom had just about had enough of my whining by the time it was our turn. We watched him take a book and sign his name and thank them for coming.

Mom handed over her book and he stared at it like it was someone else's book. That was when he started asking mom questions. What she did, who I was, and who she was married to, what case she was working on at the time?"

"It was a hit and run that had some diplomat inside. Except that the car itself didn't have diplomatic plates and your mother was going to use that." Rick lights up as his memory of that day came back.

"And it was one of my first books, long before the Derek Storm series. I think that was what surprised me. No one had ever handed me that book to have signed before. … Or sense if I remember correctly. That book may be one of a kind. The only signed copy of that book." It suddenly makes Rick happy that he had given them something no one else anywhere had.

"I met your mother." Rick half laughed. The thought that he had met Kate's mother, even if it was for a brief moment was amazing.

"And you think it's funny?" Kate was instantly mad.

"WHAT!? …. No not that. Never that." Rick took Kate's hands in his. "Think about it, all those years ago I met you and your mother and was wanting to meet you and her again. Except you never came. I had no name. Just a couple of faces in my memory that faded over time.

And now here we are." Rick let go of her hands and spread his arms wide.

"Actually, … that wasn't the only time you saw me." Kate confesses, and watches the shocked look on Rick's face. "It was after my mother was dead and I stood in line to get one of your Derek Storm books signed. It was quick and painless and you simply signed your name and moved on to the next person."

"I saw you again!? … How did I not notice? …. This sucks! I can't believe I didn't notice, when was this?" Rick really was hurt, he had made it a point to be on the lookout for the two of them.

"You would never have recognized me. I had only recently made detective and I had kept my boyfriend waiting while I stood in line, which pissed him off. My hair was short and I had dyed it a reddish color.

I wasn't the Kate Beckett that you saw last time. Not anymore." Kate looked down at her hands. That Kate Beckett was long since gone.

Rick took Kate's hands back into his. "You look like her now. … Well ok, more like your mother now, but still you have changed." Rick points out.

"You're happy now Kate. You've been smiling more lately." Rick tried to get her to see.

"Enough you two. … What's for lunch?" Kate asks looking for some lunch and off all of this sappy trip down memory lane.

Rick was slicing the smoked pork shoulder into something for sandwiches. "Any ideas what we are going to do in about 3 months? Our pantry isn't likely going to last past that time, maybe even less.

Plus the gas will lose enough octanes that it'll be useless not long after." Rick offers looking into the future.

"O-kay, so we can only stay here for a few more months. We have water, pigs, fruit and nut trees and a greenhouse with at least a few vegetables. Plus we have power so we won't die. At least not right away.

We know only islands are completely clean. Japan is likely too far. … How about England, it's clean?" Kate asks trying to work out where they could go.

Alexis started shaking her head. "Too far, it's like 3,400 miles just from New York. And even at 600 miles per hour it takes hours and we can travel at half that speed, and only have a range of about 2,200 miles." Alexis shoots England down.

"2,200 miles. … That leaves out Alaska naturally. Maybe someplace cold in Canada?" Kate brightens up, thinking Canada was mostly clean since it was cold.

"Except even Montreal has a summer period." Rick points out.

"We're going to have to think of something Castle. Even if it's just to land somewhere grab and flee back here with whatever food we can find." Kate offers. "So what is in reach of here that isn't more than 2,200 miles?"

They soon found themselves sitting in the plane with one of the tables folded out and Alexis's flight maps laid out on top.

"We could make Churchill Airport as the furthest place north, … and anyplace along this arc." Alexis draws an erasable arc on her chart. "I'll take us hours to get that far."

"Can you stay awake that long while flying honey?" Kate was concerned.

"Kate has a point pumpkin. The original plan was to fly between here and Miami, not the furthest most reaches of Canada." Rick was just as concerned for his daughter, even if he was proud of her.

"It would be quite a challenge, plus when we land we would need fuel to go anywhere else." Alexis had to admit she wasn't looking forward to flying that long.

"And we don't even know if they are clean, or have the fuel to get us someplace else. And how do we find out if anyplace is clean, let alone this Churchill place?" Rick offers.

"The same way we find out anything now. Your radio and the guys in the precinct." Kate answers his question.

"Or we just contact the military." Alexis starts smiling and moves to the pilot's seat and fires up the communication system.

Kate was right behind her and was putting on the other headset as Alexis started changing channels to one the military was likely monitoring.

Kate took her headset off and dropped them in her lap, trying to figure out what they had said and what they didn't. "And?" Rick asks poking his head into the cockpit.

"They have teams out trying to figure out where patient zero is located. Without that they don't know how to make a cure. Most places are existing on rations since no one is manufacturing food.

The Midwest isn't planting or harvesting for fear of the infected. Noise attracts them so they can't use their tractors or harvesters because of the noise.

Transport trucks aren't moving because of the noise. They warned us that if we landed anywhere it would draw the infected to us and we would only have moments before being overrun.

They want us to stay right where we are for as long as possible." Kate answers his question, not happy with the military.

"You're a detective Kate, what do you think he didn't say?" Rick knew she was smart and good at reading people.

Alexis was listening now too having taken off her headset and shutting down the radio. "I think their fleet is starving and are using their helicopters to search for food using their fighters as escort cover. I think their stealing.

I got the feeling they wanted to know where we were exactly." Kate offers, since they had asked about their location too many times.

"They want what little we have?" Rick was shocked.

"They have the weapons to take what they want." Alexis points out.

"We need to talk with Espo." Kate tells them and is up out of her seat and leads the walk back to the house to retrieve one of their satellite phones.

"Espo?" Kate wasn't sure of the voice that answered the phone. It was a little off and why would Espo say hello so softly?

"Hey Beckett, sorry about that, the little guy was fast. It hasn't been a week yet, so what's up?" Kate must want something to be calling early.

"We had an interesting conversation with the military. It left us with the impression that they are running out of food and are on the lookout for anything they can take." Kate tells him.

"That sounds about right. Montgomery has set up an armed detail that has been taking food to the soldiers that are stationed at the George Washington for the last couple of weeks. It's partly why there is a large armed patrol out at the moment. They are going to every restaurant they can find. From mom and pop to 5-star hotels." Espo explains.

"We're also down to our last tanker of fuel, with little chance of finding anymore after it is gone. We may be forced to limit our patrols to a tighter area and walk them soon. We need that gas for the generators." Espo adds.

"We'll be down to minimum food supply too in a couple of months, we got the impression they were fishing for our location so they could come and take what we had." Kate admits.

"Everyone is starting to feel the pinch Beckett. It's only going to get worse from here on out. Likely best to stay were you are as long as you can." Espo offers his opinion.

"Thanks Espo, try and stay safe over there and say hi to my dad for me. … Oh and Martha." Kate asks of him.

"I will, … take care Beckett." And they both hang up.

"Looks like our options are thin." Kate looks at Rick and Alexis.

"If we cut back now we could make what we have left in the pantries last maybe another month." Alexis offers. "Maybe we should do an inventory, see exactly what we have and consolidate it all. Take what's left in the store and move it to the house." Alexis offers.

It didn't take long and they used the quad with its trailer along with the golf cart to move anything that was considered food up to the house. This left the store pretty much bare. "I haven't seen it like this since before we started stocking it." Alexis points out as they look the place over.

Alexis had shown Kate how to close the storm shutters long ago, so it was Rick and Alexis taking everything up to the house while Kate closed up the store and put it into hibernation.

It was another hour to finish their impromptu inventory. "Three months maybe, plus or minus a week at best." Alexis offers after looking at the list.

"We still have the fruit and nut trees, the pigs and we might be able to fish from shore. If we do lots of fishing before that date we could fill the freezers since we will have power." Rick offers.

"We'll have to eat the chickens dad, since we don't have enough feed for them to last even this long." Alexis points out.

"So long as it rains, we'll have water. What about the filters and UV light? And soap to clean our clothes and sheets?" Kate asks.

Alexis picked up the list and started to study it. "Maybe 6 months of filters left, we're down to one spare UV light. About 6 months for detergent and soap for us. Longer if we cut back a little.

We're going to have to drain the pool and hot tub soon. We're about out of chlorine and testing supplies." Alexis points out.

"We swim in the ocean then." Kate comments, knowing that it was just a short walk down to one of the beaches. "We may need to start taking our weapons with us everywhere we go. When people get desperate that's when things get ugly. You're not a city or a country anymore, it becomes everyone for himself." Kate was wondering what it was going to be like in Manhattan soon. More people, less and less food and other supplies.

They decided that they would eat breakfast so long as the chickens were still around to lay eggs, and without eggs other things couldn't be made or cooked, even if they did still have flour left.

It had Kate worried about how the three of them were going to get along when that time came.

Kate's problem was that she had forgotten she was with Rick now and not alone anymore. She was underestimating just what Rick could do.


	19. Chapter 19

**CH19**

**It is now one month later : (all of January)**

Kate was blinking her eyes open and found herself in what had become her favorite position to sleep in. Her head was tucked in nicely at Rick's shoulder with her hand place over his heart, feeling the rhythm of his heart beating under her hand.

Kate could also feel the heat that his body generated. It was a little strange, part of her was cool lying naked in bed curled up against Rick while part of her was cool because of the A/C unit.

It was a new feeling for her and she was learning to love it and love the man she was curled up against.

They had been making love to each other so much that it had Kate up in the attic over the storage building in search of the box that had Trojan written on it. Kate had long ago run out of birth control pills and using condoms was the only assurance they had now that Kate wouldn't get pregnant.

Being this far away from a hospital, if there was even one that was still open, that they could reach had Kate scared enough to insist on their use each time. It only made Kate more happy when Rick had easily understood her reasoning.

Rick wasn't the one that was going to be pregnant. They didn't have any vitamins to take anymore. They did earlier, however with their diet they had been using them regularly and now they had none.

Plus they had no diapers, wipes, lotions or baby clothes. Literally nothing that a baby would need.

Kate knew that they were going to go fishing all day today and fill the freezers with fish and shark. It got Kate to open her eyes wide as she watched Rick's chest rise and fall with each breath. It had her smiling wide as she thought about what it took for her to get here.

Kate was happy and she knew it, however she also knew she was going to give her father a piece of her mind when she finally saw him. Not that she hadn't hinted that he was in big trouble during one of their weekly calls into the precinct.

It got Kate to slowly work her way away from Rick slowly, not wanting to wake him. Then she stood there staring down at him. He had a deep tan just like everyone else, all except where his swimsuit covered him. Down there he was as white as a sheet in comparison.

Not that Kate or likely even Alexis was any different. Kate pulled the sheet high enough to cover him so that Kate wasn't tempted to find a fun way to wake Rick up this morning. Just the thought of it had her second guessing what she was doing. The pull to make love to him was so strong.

Kate was stepping out of the shower and putting on one of her bikini's with a wrap around her waist and slipped into her flip flops. It felt so natural to be dressed like this now. Kate had been dressed like this for months and she found that she didn't miss wearing clothes or her power high heeled boots.

She did miss being a homicide detective however. Her job gave her at least some comfort helping families even if she couldn't solve her own murder case. However now she had Rick and his book. It was just how much was fiction and how much had facts?

Kate stepped out into the living room and found Alexis at the stove making an omelet for herself. "Morning honey." Kate hugged Alexis from behind and kissed her head.

"Morning Kate, is dad up yet?" Alexis was wondering if she should start one or two more omelet's.

"No he's still sleeping." Kate answers her question.

"Wore him out last night I take it." Alexis teased Kate.

"ALEXIS CASTLE! …. Well maybe just a little." Kate grinned wide while starting to blush. Kate was still getting used to just how far these two were into her heart.

It had Alexis chuckling. "Want one? With 11 chickens laying eggs now, we have a lot each day. More than we need really." Alexis offers.

"Yes please, do we actually have enough items to keep making these?" Kate was wondering if they should just switch to scrambled eggs in the morning, along with bacon.

"We have enough to last the next 2 or maybe 3 months still. After that it will depend on what is fresh in the greenhouse." Alexis started another omelet for Kate. "And you like dad now?" Alexis asks with her back still turned to Kate.

It had Kate smiling wide. "Yes I like your father now." Liked him a lot actually and was learning to like him even more.

"Do you love dad? …. Because I think he loves you too." Alexis still doesn't turn around. Alexis did however soon find herself in Kate's arms from behind.

"Yes I love you father now, almost as much as I love you honey. … I still can't believe that I ran into you in that hotel parking lot. I didn't have a plan and nowhere to go except back into Manhattan. Just that Espo told me that the military had already blown all of the bridges.

Maybe I could have found a boat, even if it was just a row boat. Something, anything." It was the only thought Kate had at the time.

Alexis twisted in Kate's arms. "I'm happy we found you too, and I love you too." Alexis melts into Kate and let Kate wrap her arms around her tighter.

Kate was content to just stand there holding her, wishing, … "I think you need to turn my omelet." Kate releases Alexis who quickly spins and gets back to cooking breakfast.

Kate was back in their bedroom. Their bedroom? At first Kate would sleep with Rick but leave her clothes, her bikini's in her room and even took showers in the shared jack and jill bathroom.

It was only the last couple of weeks that Kate had moved bikini's, wraps and flip flops into Rick's, their bedroom. Kate was crawling across the bed and started kissing Rick awake. "Alexis and I are going to go fishing babe, when we get back we can go deep sea fishing." Kate kisses him again.

Kate however soon found Rick's arms around her pulling her down. "Castle! … We really need the fish while the gas is still good to use. We can resume this conversation later tonight." Kate tries talking herself out of his arms, even if she did like the idea of getting back into them.

"Remember to take your weapon with you wherever you go babe. It's starting to get ugly out there." Kate reminds him of the conversation they had, had with Robert in England.

Robert had seen the giant mushroom cloud in the sky, he just didn't know where it was located. Just that it looked to be pretty far away. His contact with the Royal Air Force hadn't heard anything about it.

They had heard that some islands like Japan, Hawaii and all of the Caribbean islands were long since out of fuel. They all relied 100% on having fuel and other resources shipped in.

England had suspended sale of gas for domestic consumption. Their oil rigs were still in operation, it's just that without additional imports it was limited to official use only. Police, fire, ambulances and military use.

England started looking like WWII all over again. Everyone had a garden in their yard, no matter how small or large it was. They had also learned from Robert that the air force had caught a few ships that looked like they were drifting out in the channel, packed with infected. They had wasted no time and blew them out of the water.

The prevailing theory was that they had accidentally released the boat they found themselves on, since it was clear the boat was not under power.

It was also learned from Andy that in Japan that they had learned that there was a US carrier parked off of Japan near South Korea. The prevailing theory was that they were trying to find patient zero. If they could find out how and where it all started, they could start to study it.

The CDC and various WHO research buildings were still operational. Rick had even managed to talk with a few people that were in small towns in the heartland of the US who were still unaffected.

They still had no information of South America or Africa. However given the number of nukes the military had dropped on the border with Mexico, chances were not good that many people remained.

It took Kate and Alexis a few hours and they had to move to a new place twice. They were definitely over fishing their favorite spots. Still they had 8 catfish that got cleaned and into the freezer quickly.

While they were gone Rick had gone pig hunting and was just bringing in some of the pieces with Alexis headed outside to help him move them into the kitchen, where Kate stayed and put the vacuum system to use.

"Tuna or shark?" Kate asks knowing what came next.

"Which ever we land fist I guess." Rick didn't really have a preference. The small one he did have said shark, but he was willing to bend to their wishes.

"Remember to take your weapon with you everywhere you go Alexis. I don't like the idea of leaving you here alone, but we really need the food while we still can." Kate hugs and kisses Alexis's head and steps onto the boat. Getting the three of them to wave at each other as they went out to sea.

Kate was still huffing and puffing and was sure her arms were going to fall off. Still they had the biggest tiger shark they had ever caught in the back of their boat as Kate threw the line to Alexis who was down there to meet them.

"HOLY! … That has to be the biggest one you've caught yet." Alexis was impressed.

"Yeah, and my arms are already ready to fall off, I don't want to know if I'll even be able to move them tomorrow." Kate moans.

"Nothing a loving massage with lots of lotion can't fix." Rick offers up the use of his hands as he kisses Kate's head.

They still had to clean the shark and soak the pieces before using the vacuum system. While they did all of this work, the house was filled with the smells of the crock pot that had some of the old pig, some of the last of the onion they still had, Stove Top Stuffing and a can of cream of mushroom soup along with some chicken broth also from a can.

They had known that the day was going to be busy so Rick had set up the lone crock pot that they had so that they would have dinner waiting for them when they finished.

"Talk with Robert tonight?" Kate offers since she wanted some information. Even if it was void of any useful information. Just hearing someone else made her feel better.

It was late and they were all in bed, and while Kate was in bed naked yet again, something she was fast learning to like, this time she was lying face down while Rick ran his oily hands over all of her sore muscles.

It was enough to get Kate to moan loving the feeling of his hands massaging her aching muscles. Kate knew her arms hurt, just hadn't thought that her back and leg muscles were just as sore. "Hhmm, don't stop, don't ever stop." Kate whispers out.

"How did you get this many sore muscles anyway?" Rick asks working his hands down her legs.

"Aren't yours? … I need to do this for Alexis tomorrow, hers are likely hurting just as much." Kate comments moving her thoughts of Rick hurting to Alexis hurting.

"I'll be fine and I'm grateful for what you do for Alexis." Rick tells her.

Kate however only heard the 'I'll be fine' part, and it had her sitting up and taking Rick's hands in hers. Kate spent a moment looking in his eyes. "You are hurting, why didn't you say something?" Kate moved her hands from his to his face so she could hold it in hers.

"I'm fine, you and Alexis come first." Rick only wanted both of them to be perfect, he would live with his pain.

Now Kate was up on her knees and back to holding his face in her hands, just now her face was just an inch away from his. "No babe we're not. I'm not going to be happy knowing you are holding onto your pain and trying to tuff it out. You're only hurting yourself, Alexis and me." Kate tried to get him to see.

Kate kissed his forehead. "Grab a towel and come with me babe." Kate climbs out of bed and pulls 2 towels from the bathroom and throws one at Rick while she wraps her around her body to cover up.

After Rick had his wrapped around his waist, Kate took his hand. "Now come with me." And Kate drags him out onto the back patio. They hadn't as yet drained the hot tub yet, since it required fewer chemicals, unlike the pool that was sitting empty and covered over.

Kate turned it on and pulled her towel off and threw it for a chair. "Now get in babe." And Rick gets a view of a naked Kate climbing into the hot tub. It had a smiling Rick pulling his towel off that displayed his interest in seeing a naked Kate getting into the hot tub.

His interest didn't go un-noticed by Kate as he climbed into the hot tub and sat down next to Kate, feeling the hot tub starting to warm up and all of those jets throwing water at his sore muscles.

Rick was starting to feel better as he laid there with his arm around Kate holding her close when suddenly there was a hand wrapped around him that started to slowly slide up and down.

After a while Rick started moving his hips to try and get Kate to speed up the tempo, but she didn't, Kate just kept up the slow stroking, doing nothing else. "KATE, PLEASE?" Rick needed more.

Kate only softly chuckled and it gave her even more incentive to keep doing what she was doing.

Rick however had, had enough of this teasing, so he turned on Kate and started kissing her and lifted Kate up just a little so he could work his way from her lips, to her neck and down to her breasts.

Kate had lifted herself up just a little to allow better access to her breasts when a cry escaped her lips, just before Rick took her nipple in his mouth.

Rick lowered his hand down to her core only to find that one of the water jets was brushing water past her, and it gave Rick an idea. Rick took his mouth from Kate's nipple getting Kate to complain lightly and twist her in place and push her core right up against the water jet.

The reaction he got from Kate was instant and told him that he was right.

Kate was on her way to her fifth orgasm thanks to the water jets as she tried desperately to get away from the water jet, except Rick was holding her in place. "RICK, PLEASE?" Kate crashed for the fifth time that night and could feel the sixth was only seconds behind that one.

Just as her sixth orgasm makes her body quake and turn her muscles into goo and can't resist having Rick hold her in place anymore. Kate crashed for the sixth time. "RICK PLEASE, … The pain."

The constant pressure on her clit had made it tender and now it was starting to hurt.

Rick let go of Kate and let her fall away from the water jet, not that it stopped her from having her seventh orgasm of the night. It did however get Kate to reach up and pull Rick down to her so that she could kiss him for all of that. "I want you babe. … Turn over." Kate asks of him and works at getting her muscles to listen to her, as she got on top and lowered herself down onto him.

It was later and the jets had stopped working, however the water was still warm as they just held onto each other. "I love you babe, I really do. … I know it took me a while and I'm sorry about that. … I just couldn't get past the playboy image of you on page 6. I didn't want to be another conquest." Kate tries to explain.

"That was Gina's idea to try and get me in the news. If I was in the news they would know my name when they went to a book store or saw a poster, advertisement on the side of a bus, etc." Rick explains.

"I know that now. … But why did you let Gina do that to you?" Kate didn't understand.

"At first I liked the exposure it gave me. People recognized me wherever I went. TV interviews, radio interviews, pictures of me in the paper, on buses and others. … It wasn't until Alexis was older that I started to see what it was doing.

Only shallow women with nothing between their ears were showing any interest in me. It wasn't until Alexis came home one day and I overheard her talking to her friend Paige about how she was defending me in school. That I wasn't actually with all of these different women." Rick paused as he could still hear that conversation in his mind.

"It was then that I realized there was a price that I had been paying, that I hadn't been paying any attention to. That was when I started taking Alexis with me to all of these events instead of the airheads that Gina would stick me with.

It caused a number of arguments between us. Being with my daughter wasn't going to get me noticed and in the news like being a bed any woman who came my way would.

It was about now that I decided to kill Storm and dump Gina and Black Pawn. What Gina wanted me to be wasn't who I was and I wanted a change, but she wouldn't listen.

I wrote another book and used someone other than Gina. It was crap but Black Pawn published it anyway and the critics destroyed it and me. I had already started selling and bought these islands and was working with a company to help me develop this place.

Alexis started taking courses to be a pilot. I actually tried to talk her out of it. I could just hire a pilot after buying the plane to get out here with. It's just that once Alexis gets it into her head, failure just isn't an option.

Alexis had her instrument only license even before the renovation of the house was complete. We hadn't even installed the wind mills or battery back-up yet. The storage building was mostly just a pile of concrete cinder blocks lying on the ground. All of the tents were in place and the store was in place except it was empty.

The septic tank and drain field was just a hole in the ground. We were at least a year away from even being close to complete, and maybe a few more months from opening." Rick explains.

"Alexis is an amazing young woman Rick, I love her so much. I honestly don't know why Meredith or Gina can't see what I see. … College means so much to her Rick, and Oxford is the only one we know of that is still open. I want to find a way to get her there. … We need to find a way to get her there.

She's growing up Rick, you need to let her grow up. … She'll always need her father, I still need mine, even after he turned himself into a drunk. … He's my father and I only have one." Kate asks of him.

"I know." Rick hangs his head low. "It's just easier said than done."

"And I'll help you if you'll let me." Kate asks of him while searching for a sign to if they have a future together. Kate still feared deep down of being a conquest. Her answer was to have Rick kiss her and place his hand over her core and feel him start running his fingers through her folds.

Kate woke the next morning and could feel the giant smile on her face. Kate knew the two of them had made great strides last night, not to mention all the sex. Kate had, had her ninth orgasm of the night in the hot tub thanks to Rick and his talented hands. Only to have her tenth after they made it back into their bedroom.

It had Kate's smile growing wider, until she shot up sitting in bed. **"OH SHIT!"** Kate had remembered something else about last night.

They hadn't used any protection both times!

Kate turned to look at the other side of the bed and found it empty. A search of her hands told her that the sheets were still a little warm so Rick hadn't been gone long.

Kate was up in a flash and soon found that not all of her muscles were relaxed, though the reason for the soreness this time had her smiling again.

With bikini, wrap, flip flops and her service weapon in hand Kate headed for the living room. Out here she found Rick in the kitchen and Alexis sitting at the breakfast bar, both of them dressed like they always were.

Nothing seemed strange so Kate approached Alexis and kissed her head. "Morning honey. … Rick we need to talk."

"I need something from storage since I'm out." Alexis took the hint, even if there really was something out in storage that she needed, since she really was out. Just hadn't planned on getting it now.

Kate was ready to kiss her for that as she watched her leave the house and close the door behind her.

"Sleep well Captain Beckett?" Rick asked while smiling.

Kate turned to look at Rick and saw his smile, telling Kate that the child jack-ass part of Rick was presently in charge. "We didn't use any protection last night." Kate tells him, seeing if that got past the child part of him.

The part of him that saw all the fun in the world. The part of him that brought all the fun in her life. It might be the jack-ass part of him, but it was also another reason why she loved him.

Kate saw his eyes open wide followed quickly by his mouth. "We, … I, … I'm sorry Kate, I'm so sorry. I got caught up in the moment. I wasn't thinking. … We, ..." Kate places a finger on his lips to get him to stop talking.

"If it happens, then it happens. We will deal with it when it comes. … I can breast feed the baby, we can make diapers and clean them so long as we have soap. We have a mixer to make our own baby food. As for clothes and shoes we'll think of something." Kate simply saw it as another obstacle, something she has been overcoming for years.

Rick came around the breakfast bar and wrapped his arms around Kate. "What if there is a problem? All we have are first-aid kits, no hospitals or doctors." Rick's writing skills started dreaming up all kinds of problems.

"The baby will be fine babe, don't worry." Kate was still in good shape.

Rick kept his mouth shut. All he saw was the potential for problems. It was the first time when he thought his idea of living all the way out here away from everything just might be a really bad idea.

Especially if it took Kate away from him.


	20. Chapter 20

**CH20**

**It is now one month later: (February)**

Kate was tempted to say that for the next two weeks they had settled down to a comfortable rhythm and life became comfortable. Well as comfortable as living on an island could be.

First, one week after having sex with Rick without protection, something they hadn't done again since then, Kate had her period taking away the fear that she was pregnant. Kate had soon found that she was insatiable, she had done without for so long never really enjoying sex. Well that wasn't totally true, she did enjoy it, or at least she thought she had.

It wasn't until her heart was added into having sex that she really understood what making love to another person was really about, and she was making up for lost time. It was only her good fortune that Rick was not only keeping up with her but was actually starting something.

However he was also driving her mad. He was teasing her, getting her hot and horny only to turn around and involve Alexis in something forcing her to wait. Kate finally caught on and decided that turnabout was fair play.

"You're a tease Katherine Beckett." Rick informed her already knowing that with her libido she wouldn't tease him for long.

Kate woke to an empty bed again, not that, that happened very often. And since it didn't, Kate usually just snuggled in a little closer and woke up Rick in what had become her normal way. That was usually followed by a little fun in the shower. This time however she was forced to keep her hands to herself.

This morning however was different since she woke alone, however she still remembered what Rick had told her last night while they were cuddling close after making love again.

"I love you Captain Katherine Beckett. Maybe you don't believe me, but I'm going to find as many ways as I can to prove it to you, no matter how long it takes me. And after you finally believe me I'm still never going to stop.

I'm going to let you in on a secret Captain Katherine Beckett. I fell in love with you by reading all of those pages you left me to write you that book. … I even fell in love with one Johanna Beckett from reading all of those pages. … And while you might not believe me, but her dying hurts my heart almost as much as it does yours.

She was an amazing person and knowing how much losing her damaged your heart hurts mine even more. I vowed while I was writing to do what I could to take all that pain away. I can't give you your mother back, but I can work at giving you the life she would want you to have." Rick leaned over and kissed Kate's head.

Well since we're baring our souls, I love you too, and while I didn't fall in love with you by reading about you. I did however have Alexis who has done nothing but talk about you since we've been here.

She loves you a lot and has told me a lot of stories about you." Kate smiles remembering one of them.

"Great, I'm dead!" Rick moans knowing that Alexis knows practically everything about him.

Kate poked him in the ribs getting Rick to wince and complain. "Alexis loves you a lot and is very protective of you goof ball." Kate snuggles back in close.

"GOOF BALL?" Rick took exception to the term.

"Jackass?" Kate offers up another option.

"Jackass? … Take that back Beckett." Rick demands and pokes Kate in her ribs like she had poked him.

"No." Kate offers since it was the truth.

"Take it back Beckett." And Rick starts tickling her since he still remembered that it had worked at her birthday.

It had Kate laughing and squirming. "Take it back Beckett." Rick offers while still tickling her.

"No." Kate manages to get out between laughs while still squirming.

"Take it back Beckett." Rick asks again but never stops tickling her.

"I love you." Kate manages to tell him while using up precious air.

That did however get Rick to stop tickling her. "Besides you're my jackass." Which earns Kate a quick tickle and a long passionate kiss.

Kate was up, showered and dressed in one of her bikini's, wrap and flip flops and found Rick and Alexis in the kitchen. "And how are you two this morning?" Kate asks kissing Alexis's head and Rick on the lips.

"Today is our scheduled call into Espo so we can talk to grams and your dad." Alexis reminds her.

"Robert is tonight and Andy is tomorrow morning." Rick adds.

"I'd like to hear something new but I'm not holding my breath. I just hope the precinct is ok, if we're starting to have trouble Manhattan is likely in even worse shape." Kate was worried about that. They still didn't have any place to go if they needed to.

"Anything planned for the day?" Kate was curious, since most of the major chores had already been completed earlier.

"Nope, until the phone call are likely after it's a fun day." Rick was still trying to bring fun into Kate's life.

"Fun huh!" Kate started smiling wide and that had Alexis worried.

"Uh oh." Alexis had seen that face before. They were in trouble.

Alexis was soon sitting in back next to her dad and they were both screaming. Problem was Kate was screaming too, just for a different reason.

Kate was working at bringing the Flash up to 70 plus and was screaming at the thrill of the ride, while Alexis and Rick were aft screaming for their life.

Sometime later Kate was tying the Flash to the dock like Alexis and Rick had taught her. "You were right babe, it is a fun day." Kate gives Rick a quick kiss and chuckles as she walks for the house and one of the satellite phones, putting a little extra sway in her walk on purpose.

"We're both going to die dad." Alexis was sure Kate was mad. Not mad, mad, just mad. Or was it the other way around?

"Yeah, but what a way to die." Rick was learning new things all the time as he watches Kate walk for the house.

"Hi Espo, it's been a week, how are things?" Kate asks using speaker phone as usual.

"Beckett, it's about time you called. You can come home." Espo tells them.

That got all three of them to look shocked, so shocked that none of them had a voice.

"Beckett, you still there Beckett?" Espo asks after too much silence.

"We can, … we can come home?" Kate finds her voice first.

"Not today of course but soon. Likely a month or so maybe." Espo put the brakes on their celebration.

"They found a cure?" Kate asks, not believing it, but praying that it was the truth.

"Not a cure exactly. Seems they worked out that the infected need an un-infected body to bite and infest with their disease. If you are already infected with another disease they seem to know this and not bite you.

They're calling it invisibility, since they don't even know you're there. So they are working on making shots to give everyone a disease. One that can be cured and isn't fatal. It's just that they need time to make that many shots." Espo explains.

"So we need shots to get this disease so we can come home. … How are we going to get these shots?" Kate asks.

"That's one of the things that we're still working on. Places that are already clean are going to be last to get the shots delivered. The idea is to prevent further spread of the disease, plus they need farmers working their crops, so we can process them into new food.

I don't know about you, but Manhattan is almost sucked dry. Our once a day meals have gotten smaller and simpler since we lost power. Our latest search of the local restaurants didn't turn up much. Plus the water stopped flowing yesterday, so our rations have spread to water now too." Espo didn't like it, but they needed to last just a little longer.

Rick bent down to the phone. "We'll try and bring what we can when you clear us to leave." Rick knew that for the three of them they still had a lot of the basics, especially meat and fruit. It was the vegetables that they were getting really short on. Like a couple of weeks at best kind of short.

"That would be great, by then we will likely need it. I'd say you missed all the action Beckett, but in a way I'm glad you're there and not here.

And if you come back with a tan I am so going to hurt you." Espo teased trying to make it sound like he meant it.

Kate turned to look at Rick and Alexis and then at herself. They all had heavy tans since they were outside a lot. Hunting, fishing, recreation, maintenance, inspections of the tents, boats, plane. Even the solar panels on the roof got looked at and washed off almost weekly.

Kate chickened out. "Is my dad there?" Kate changed the subject.

"He wouldn't actually hurt us, would he?" Rick asks not know much about Espo.

"It's more Lanie that I'm worried about." Kate knew that she was going to take a serious pasting when Lanie saw her. Especially when she screwed up and called Rick, babe or Alexis, honey. She may not be able to hear for weeks, and that's if she was still breathing.

Kate spent a few short minutes talking to her dad to find out how he is doing. "Still mad at me honey?" Jim scrunched his face even if Kate couldn't see it.

Kate knew just what he was talking about. "No dad, not anymore." Kate fought to keep the blush that was starting on her face since Rick and Alexis were sitting right next to her.

"Martha has told me a lot about Rick, Katie, …." Jim stops when he hears Rick moan "Oh god!"

"It's all good son, you've had quite the colorful life." Jim had heard a lot like Kate was learning from Alexis.

"It's all lies sir, all lies." Rick was deftly afraid of what his mother was telling him.

It did however have Jim chuckling. "You're safe Richard dear; I haven't told him about the time that you stole a police horse while naked." Martha lets slip and doesn't even notice.

"Borrowed mother, borrowed." Rick corrects her statement.

Kate turns on Rick. "Naked Castle?" Alexis hadn't told her about that one yet. "You and I need to talk." Kate looks at Alexis.

"Jim!?" Rick pleads.

"Be nice Katie or I'll tell Rick about what you did for your prom instead of going to the dance." Jim threatened.

"**DAD!?" **Kate knew it wasn't what she had done instead of going to the dance it was what she did AFTER that.

"Tit for tat Katie." Jim reminds her, that the sword she was thinking of using had two sides.

Kate moaned. "Fine dad, but we never talk about this again. … Ever."

"You can tell grams Jim and I can get it from grams." Alexis speaks up for the first time.

"**ALEXIS HARPER CASTLE!" **Kate glares at her, only to hear Jim and Martha laughing on the other side through the phone.

The rest of the call was them finding out that to make the heating oil last as long as possible they had the heat turned way down, so that it was cold in the building. Just not as cold as it was outside.

Meals were still small and only once per day. And with the water off, they were rationing it too. Showers were out now even though they had showers upstairs just off of the exercise room. There weren't a lot of them so they had created a schedule on who and when they could be used.

Now they were down to using a wash cloth to clean themselves with and laundry was almost nonexistent. Montgomery had relented and let a large team go out looking for winter clothing and came back with only a little.

Another team had been sent out for more personal items. Those it turned out were more easy to find. They had even found a few space heaters that worked off of electricity. Downside was they only had these little Honda generators and most of those were being used to keep the refrigerator/freezers going.

With a little work they managed to consolidate the food and free up a few of the generators for heating. It's just that they were using up the last of the gasoline from their sole tanker that still had gas.

The 54th at the hospital was a little better off. Their big generator worked off of diesel which lasted longer than normal gas, though even they were starting to get worried.

They might be free of infection, but they were slowly suffering. This needed to end soon, really soon.

"WE GET TO GO HOME!" Alexis even though 16 with a birthday in a month, starts hopping and clapping.

Kate soon found herself wrapped up by Alexis. "Where do we live when we go home? We don't have a home, I sold everything." Rick points out.

"Your old place might be empty or you could stay with me. Even if I do only have the one bed. … There is a sofa." Kate offered.

"We'll think of something. Hotels have rooms with beds, even if we do have to climb the stairs to get to it. We're really going to have to plan, no food, no water, no heat, no electricity. … Even if we can leave do we wait for things to be better? And I don't mean perfect, that's likely going to take years.

Unless Kate here knows how to wiggle her nose and make things happen." Rick points out.

"Or clap her arms together and blink really hard." Alexis was grinning wide and joins her dad to stare at Kate.

"And I don't have a black hat, black cat or a wort on my nose either." Kate points out knowing just who these two were referring to. "And I don't think your name is Darrin babe, or Tony."

"Have you even tried to …. " Rick stops when he sees the look Kate is giving him, wondering where the closest gun is and if he can get to it first to save his life. She wouldn't shoot him with Alexis standing right there, would she?

"We already know how much cargo the plane can handle since we've done it a couple of times." Rick points out.

"We may need to delay going back for another reason. … It's winter there, and likely snow and ice. What if the runway is filled with both? Who's going to clear it for us to land?" Alexis points out, since she was the pilot.

"**SHIT!"** Kate curses, since she hadn't thought of that. "And if we sit there too long who's going to de-ice us to take off again even if we wanted to?"

"So we wait as long as we can." Rick resigns himself to staying here longer.

"It sounds like they could use what supplies we could bring them." Kate points out not ready to give up yet.

"And they've got just under 300 people staying in the precinct, with desks piled on top of each other to create floor space to sleep on. People are even sleeping in the basement Kate. What we could take wouldn't feed all of them even one meal. Our plane just isn't that big." Rick understands, but they only have just so much.

"Our boat will only reach Miami and carry even less cargo." Alexis adds.

Kate started cursing silently, there just had to be a solution to this problem. "We have until they call us Kate. … Until then we think about it and create a list on what to load the plane with, besides us and clothes." Rick offers his opinion.

CLOTHES!? Kate hadn't even seen her clothes in months, they probably needed to be washed before she wore them again. Plus how would they clean them again if they went home? No water, no electricity, no food.

They decided to wait until they talked with Espo again next week to see what kind of timing they had to work with and what they wanted to do. Staying here was going to become very difficult to do eventually. Just was going home going to be better?

**It is now one month later:**

The three of them were running around all over trying to accomplish any number of things. Alexis was overseeing the loading of the plane, knowing just how much cargo it could hold and where to store it. While Kate and Rick were loading the golf cart and trailer with what was left of their food out of the pantry.

They also filled 3 coolers, all the coolers they had, with all the pork and some of the shark that was in their freezers.

In addition they were taking all of their weapons along with all of the ammunition.

Rick had shown Kate how to close the hurricane shutters on the house and lock them in place. So the two of them were walking around pulling all of them down save for one.

Kate found Rick inside the house. Kate stepped up behind him and wrapped her arms around him. "What babe?"

"Just thinking, … patio furniture, grill, smoker are all tied down. The solar hot water is turned off. All the breakers are off, so the windmills will simply be keeping the batteries charged and keep sending electricity to the freezers.

All the radio equipment is off. The quad and everything is all locked up. The boats are all tied up to the dock, all 5 of them now." Rick runs down their list one last time.

"That's not it babe and you know it." Kate buried her head into his back.

"It's just that a lot has happened here. I found inspiration to write again, all thanks to you and your mother. … I found you." Rick spins in Kate's arms and looks into her eyes.

"I had long ago given up finding anyone that I was actually going to love like I love you." Rick opens up.

"You're not losing me Rick. We may be moving back to New York, but I'm not giving up on either you or Alexis. You both mean far too much to me to lose you now. Maybe one day I'll even feel like I'm Alexis's mother, she so deserves one." Kate lifted up to place a quick kiss to Rick's lips.

It got Rick to smile. "Really? … You don't have to you know. I know that Alexis, ..." Rick stops talking when Kate places a finger on his lips.

"I love her Rick, just as much as I love you. I don't mean tomorrow, but someday hopefully. … Come on we have a plane to catch, and we don't have to go through security." Kate grinned and grabbed Rick's hand and pulled him outside.

With the final hurricane shutter down and locked in place they walked for the plane. "No pat downs and no radiation machines as they try to turn the populace all infertile." Rick laughs and watches Kate walk up the stairs.

"I feel funny wearing clothes again." Kate states as she sits down in the seat next to Alexis just like she was on the way out here.

"It does feel weird doesn't it? Not to mention where we are going is going to be cold and we don't have any winter clothes or coats." Alexis laughs a little.

"It's going to take some getting used to, to wear my high heel boots again." Kate laughs a little.

Kate watched Alexis start flipping switches and heard the engines start up one at a time, just before she put on her headset like Alexis was already wearing.

Kate watched as Alexis took them down to the far end of the runway and applied the brakes.

"Here we go." Alexis states and pushes a pair of levers on the middle console far forward. However they didn't go anywhere and just as Kate started to question Alexis, Alexis let go of the brakes and they shot down the runway and were airborne in no time.

Kate was silent as she just watched Alexis work the controls and watched the three color screens.

About half way into their flight Kate could see Alexis talking. "Who are you talking to?" Kate asks finally, only to have Alexis point.

Kate looked and found that just off their port side was an F/A-18E Super Hornet.

"They wanted to know who we were and where we are going and if we had shots waiting for us when we land." Alexis informs Kate.

Kate remained quiet and let Alexis handle it all, still very impressed with her. Kate had learned a lot in the last few months, and was looking forward to learning still more about both of them.

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This ends book one of what I think will be a three book series. Each is likely to have roughly the same number of chapters.

Keep your eyes open since it will have a slightly different name.

Happy reading! Mine or someone else's, since there is a lot to read.

Thank you to everyone!


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